Haas and Williams are both set to unveil major upgrade packages in the next few races, in the hope of elevating their performance in what has been a mixed season so far.
Although Haas got off to a great start to the 2022 Formula 1 season, scoring 12 points in the opening two events and a further three at round four, they have failed to score in the last four events.
The team haven’t introduced any substantial updates since it launched its 2022 car, but a major upgrade is in the pipeline. It was expected to debut at the French Grand Prix in July, but that looks likely to be pushed back to the next round in Hungary according to team boss Guenther Steiner.
“We took a step back because we wanted to check something else in the windtunnel, but now we are full steam on production for Hungary,” he said in Canada.
“That is the aim. We try to better it, but I don’t know where we will get to.”
Steiner is confident the update will push them back into points scoring positions: “Hopefully it’s a big step performance wise. You will see a difference.”
Steiner also confirmed it would be the teams last major update of the season as they look to focus their attention on 2023, despite the regulations remaining stable.
“We will shift to next year’s car. That’s it. No further upgrades,” he added.
That too will likely be the case for Williams, which again haven’t updated their car with anything substantial since the opening race in Bahrain, but that will change in the next few races according to head of vehicle performance, Dave Robson.
“It [the package] has now been committed from the wind tunnel [to production],” he told Motorsport.com ahead of this weekend’s race.
“The package is on its way. Exactly when we’ll deliver it, hopefully that will become clearer over the next few days.”
Like Aston Martin, which switched concepts entirely with their update introduced at the Spanish GP and dubbed the ‘green Red Bull’, Williams’ FW44 will also look visually different to its current concept.
“We really started from the front wing and worked backwards. In terms of short-term and the rest of this season, I think we’re committed to a concept that will be slightly different, visibly different, to what you can see now.”
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