Haas reveal simulation worry as part of opening day pre-season problems

Nikita Mazepin has revealed to a simulation worry for Haas on the opening day of F1 pre-season testing that was plagued by issues.

Haas bypassed all development on last season's car in a bid to focus on this year's new aerodynamic regulations and return to the kind of form that resulted in the team finishing fifth in the constructors' championships.

Yet Mazepin spent the majority of the four-hour morning session at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya in the garage, with Mick Schumacher doing likewise in the afternoon.

The culmination resulted in Schumacher finishing 12th and Mazepin 15th of the 16 drivers on the timesheet, although more worryingly was the fact they only managed 42 laps between them. In contrast, reigning champion Max Verstappen totalled 147 on his own for Red Bull.

Initially buoyant before being more pessimistic, Mazepin said: “Firstly, it was great to get out. The whole team is coming alive, and the car has been born.

"It felt nice because the set-up and the way you run the car during these days is different to how we ran it on filming day.

"Unfortunately, we didn’t get too many laps in - we had a cooling leak which prevented us from doing more laps - but it’s just the beginning.

"The car is looking strong when figuring out the balance. Everyone is learning about this very new car and there are some things that don’t quite match the simulations, but we’re quick learners.”

Another of those days for Haas and Steiner

Schumacher conceded his smile was not as broad as it could have been if he had clocked up over a century of laps.

He added: "Nothing to be concerned about, those things happen. It’s now about trying to get the laps that we lost today in tomorrow.

"We’ll have to wait and see what Bahrain looks like but at least we’re developing the car this year and can react to things, making things better.”

Team principal Guenther Steiner described what unfolded across the sessions as "one of those days where a few small issues end up costing you considerable time in the garage".

He added: "There’s not necessarily a lot to take from today other than hopefully that’s some of our issues over and done with.

"All being well tomorrow we’ll have greater reliability and we can get into a more thorough run-plan for both Mick and Nikita.”

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