Esteban Gutierrez will get a brand new chassis for the second round at Bahrain following his heavy crash with McLaren's Fernando Alonso – who too will race an almost entirely new car after his McLaren sustained massive damage.
Although Gutierrez's Haas VF-16 came off far better than Alonso's car, it still sustained heavy damage to the rear and it was therefore necessary for the team to return the chassis to its UK base in Banbury for checks and repairs.
The time required to repair the chassis means Gutierrez will race the team's spare chassis this weekend.
"Some of the parts, for example the chassis, were sent back to Europe to be checked and fixed because we can’t do it onsite in Bahrain," explained team principal Guenther Steiner.
"We have enough spare parts to build up another chassis, so we will use that. Then the chassis that is repaired will be sent to Bahrain via air to serve as our spare.
"The guys will have to work day and night to get it to Bahrain, but it’s all doable."
With spares already limited, Steiner hinted that a similar incident could cause the team some trouble.
"Our spare quantity is down, but we have enough to get going again, so we will just keep on working."
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