Norris hopes to see Haas struggling in midfield in F1 2022

March 16, 2022

The Haas team finished in last position in the constructors’ championship last year, being the only team that failed to score any points, something that was largely due to a commitment by the American structure to focus 100% on 2022 and abandon 2021. .

However, the preseason of this new campaign did not start in the best possible way for the American team.

In the first place, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine caused their divorce with Uralkali , their main sponsor and, days later, also the rupture of the contract that united them with Nikita Mazepin, a Russian driver who financed the team through the company of his father mentioned above.

Having overcome these obstacles and after announcing the arrival of Kevin Magnussen as Mick Schumacher’s new partner, the Americans were forced to postpone their trip to Bahrain due to a breakdown in the plane that was to transport all their goods to the Sakhir Circuit and, as Consequently, the first four hours of testing were lost.

Despite this, Haas and Formula 1 itself reached an agreement to recover those four hours of testing during the remaining two days and, luckily for them, they did not lose that mileage.

In the last two days of testing, Haas surprised everyone by setting very competitive times, in fact, Lando Norris stated that they had taken a step forward, ensuring that they could even become a rival to consider for the Woking team.

“It seems that three teams (Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes) are faster than the rest, while all the others have a very similar speed,” Norris said after pre-season testing. “I’m including everyone from us to Haas on this midfield list.”

“The Haas seem to be very fast. It’s amazing considering they were so far behind last year. I’m impressed with the progress they’ve made.”

“I think we have to prepare ourselves to fight with them also from the first qualifying session. We will see on Saturday if those feelings are real or not,” added the British McLaren driver .