The Haas F1 team has been given permission to run their new VF-22 four four additional hours after they were forced to miss the opening morning of pre-season Formula 1 testing in Bahrain.
A cargo plane, which was due to collect Haas’ freight, including the car, from the UK on Friday, encountered trouble and was forced to land in Istanbul. That meant an alternative flight had to be found, with Haas’ freight only arriving into the F1 paddock on Tuesday, just before midnight.
Other teams received their air freight on Monday morning, giving them an almost 48 hour head start to build and prepare their cars for testing.
As the delay was force majeure and outside of Haas’ control, the FIA has granted the team an additional four hours of running. The FIA has given them the option to split this across the three test days by running later into the evening.
The test runs from Thursday to Saturday, with a morning session (10am to 2pm) and then an afternoon session (3pm to 7pm). Haas are due to test on Thursday afternoon after a mammoth effort to get their car ready, which included staff working through the night on Wednesday.
The team hasn’t had the easiest of weeks following the termination of its Russian title sponsor, Uralkali and its driver, Nikita Mazepin.
The American-owned outfit unveiled a new livery on Thursday morning, with the its traditional, white, red and black livery returning. Meanwhile, former driver Kevin Magnussen returns to the team in place of Mazepin and will test on Friday and Saturday, with reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi driving this afternoon.
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