Haas to miss first morning of Bahrain F1 test after freight delays

Haas’ pre-season plans for Bahrain were put in doubt over the weekend after delays with the transporting of its freight. 

This happened after the plane that was due to transport the equipment became stranded at Istanbul Airport with technical issues.

With the freight arriving late to Bahrain, the American outfit is set to miss the first four hours of running on day one.

“I can confirm our freight arrived late last night to the circuit in Bahrain,” Haas said in an announcement. “This delay will impact our programme but we are targeting being out on track for the second session Thursday afternoon with Pietro Fittipaldi driving the VF-22. I have no other updates at this time."

The team has confirmed Pietro Fittipaldi will drive the VF-22 in the afternoon on the opening day of the test which gets underway on Thursday.

The Brazilian is in the running to take the vacant second seat alongside Mick Schumacher after Nikita Mazepin left the team following Haas’ decision to terminate its Uralkali deal.

Uralkali - a Russian chemical company - was Haas’ title sponsor since the start of 2021 but after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the team decided to cut ties with it.