Kevin Magnussen praised Haas teammate Romain Grosjean for the idea of split spec run, which helped them to identify the issues they had.
Plenty of questions were raised on the re-signing of Grosjean with Haas for 2020 F1 season but the team opted to have consistency rather than bring in a new element which may result in a fresh dilemma.
Team principal explained the idea and how Grosjean helped the team in troubles which was concurred by his teammate Magnussen. The Dane reckoned the idea of splitting the spec actually helped them.
“I think it [the split strategy] proved there was also an aerodynamic problem,” said Magnussen, when asked by FormulaRapida.net/IndiaInF1.com, about the split run.
“Romain has been saying from the beginning running the second spec car after Barcelona that he didn’t like the feeling of the car. Whereas I was less worried about the feeling of the car. I didn’t mind the feeling, but I wasn’t sure whether it was quicker or not.
“We saw again in the wind tunnel the numbers suggested that it was faster. But then when Romain went back to the race one package he actually out-qualified me for two races. And then now the last two races we’ve been on the same spec and I’ve out-qualified him.
“So he certainly didn’t have a disadvantage when he was on the old spec. So it’s been an interesting experiment and I think. We’ve learned something from it. If I could go back I would probably. That spec looked more consistent and easier to drive.”
After the trials, Haas stopped with the split strategy as they converted to a hybrid of Australia and German specs they had. This is something which they will continue on with on both the cars, probably from Russia.
“It is a hybrid,” said Steiner. “It is not the clear Australia spec any more, because we couldn’t do that as we would always need to change the chassis. I think we go back to the other one because Romain’s car wasn’t slow in Singapore but we need to analyse both cars over the race.
“At the moment the plan is that we go back to the spec Romain ran, with both cars. That was planned before already. It is not the front wing but the sidepod is different and few other parts. It is a mix of everything but it is a lot more like the Melbourne spec car. We are working on it.
“We know we have a problem but we think that we are getting there. We will do some testing during the year for the remaining races to find out why it is doing what it is doing or why this correlation problem issue is there. If in the next two to four races we find something, we are still good for 2020.”
The idea of keeping experience is working for Haas and they like to continue with it in 2020. But in addition, they are also looking for a simulator driver in the form of Robert Kubica.