FIRST LOOK: Haas’ Red Bull-style upgrade breaks cover in US GP paddock

The American outfit have switched to a Red Bull-style concept for their home race at Austin in what is regarded as the team’s biggest ever in-season upgrade. 

Haas have finally abandoned their wide sidepod inlets in favour of a design closer in style to Red Bull’s dominant RB19. 

They are the latest team to converge to a similar philosophy to Red Bull, who have won 16 out of 17 races so far this season. 

Haas’ updated VF-23 was pictured in the back of the garage during Thursday’s preparation day at the Circuit of the Americas. 

The first glimpses have revealed a Red Bull-style downwash design featuring a new cooling inlet, and an aggressive undercut. 

Haas have also brought a floor upgrade to the US Grand Prix. 

Speaking about the changes prior to the weekend, Haas team principal Guenther Steiner described it as a “substantial update”. 

“The upgrade on the VF-23 is aerodynamic,” Steiner explained. 

“We changed the concept of the car because what we started with, because of the new regulations last year, we couldn’t make any more gains performance-wise. 

“Creating more downforce and less drag, it just wasn’t there anymore, so we needed to change concept, to which is commonly known as the “Red Bull concept” or the “downwash concept”. 

“It is a substantial update, and we’re able to do this within the cost cap because we didn’t have any updates at the beginning of the season because again, going back, we couldn’t find any performance that we could make parts to put on the car.”