The Haas Formula 1 Team is set to receive an engine upgrade ahead of the opening race of the 2016 season in Australia, according to team owner Gene Haas.
Haas made its public on-track debut in Barcelona on Monday as Romain Grosjean put in the first laps behind the wheel of the VF-16, enjoying the best start for a new team in testing since BAR in 1999.
Thanks to a technical partnership with Ferrari, Haas is running with a number of parts provided by the Italian manufacturer including the power unit, gearbox and suspension.
Speaking to reporters in Barcelona on Tuesday, Haas said that the team is currently running a test power unit, and will have an updated package in time for the Australian Grand Prix.
"From what I understand the engine package we’re running right now is not the engine package we’re going to be running in Melbourne," Haas said.
"These are more just test packages so the engine will vary a little bit. Obviously the chassis are already homologated so they’re going to be there.
"I don’t think there’s really going to be much different to what you see in Melbourne. Maybe the front wing will change a little bit from the reliability issues we had, but I think what you see here is what’s going to run in Melbourne."
One noticeable factor about the Haas VF-16 car is the lack of external sponsors, with the majority of its branding being for Haas' in-house companies.
However, Haas is not concerned about this, saying that there are sponsors are interested but have not yet met the figure the team has set.
"We have lots of people that want to sponsor us, they just don’t want to pay us the money we want," Haas said.
"The biggest problem is we don’t have a product yet. We’ve never been on a track, we have nothing to really sell to anybody. I think people would be a little bit afraid of going out on the track and just embarrassing your name. If you go out there and look bad they’re probably not going to want to sponsor you.
"I’m optimistic that when we go out there we’re going to look professional, we’re going to be able to compete on a level that other teams will respect, and that should make sponsors say ‘OK, there’s a product, we can see it, we can deliver’. That should make them feel more comfortable about wanting to sponsor us."
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