F1: Only Magnussen will get major Haas upgrade for Hungarian GP

Haas will introduce its one major upgrade of the 2022 Formula 1 season at this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, but the package will only be available for Kevin Magnussen to use.

Guenther Steiner said in the team’s Hungarian GP preview that Haas also “fell a bit behind” on its production of spare parts.

Steiner said there had not been time to get a second kit prepared, and the decision to give Magnussen priority over Mick Schumacher was taken because he is “in front in the championship”.

Gene Haas, Owner and Founder, Haas F1, and Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 during the British GP at Silverstone Circuit on Sunday July 03, 2022 in Northamptonshire, United Kingdom. (Photo by Andy Hone / LAT Images)

“As many people know, we waited a bit longer to bring our upgrade to track because I think we still have good pace,” said Steiner.

“Now what we want to do is put performance on. What exactly it will do, I don’t want to say because I don’t want to jinx it, but we know what it should be doing from our development. We’ll just have to wait and see what we can get out of the package.

“Unfortunately, we had a few delays in the development stage, so we postponed it from the French Grand Prix to Hungary.

“Also, with the spares situation we had at the beginning of the season, up to race seven or eight, we fell a bit behind in production and therefore we don’t have enough parts for two cars.

“We struggle with spare parts for one car so hopefully we can get it done and bring it to Hungary.”

Steiner added that he was “still very happy” Haas, which is seventh in the constructors’ championship, could make the upgrade available to one car in Hungary.

“We want to get some data before the summer break so we have something to work from when we get back, and if all goes well we’ll have it on both cars,” he added.