Until Haas F1 Team took to the grid last weekend in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, it had been 30 years since an American team competed in the FIA Formula One World Championship.
Simply showing up prepared and putting two cars on the track that made competitive lap times was the goal. And for industry veterans curious to know what kind of organization Haas F1 Team would be, the professional appearance displayed during preseason testing in Barcelona and at the season’s first race in Australia belied an intent to surpass expectations.
Expectations were surpassed in a big way when Haas F1 Team driver Romain Grosjean finished sixth – his best result since coming home third in last year’s Belgian Grand Prix in August. The performance earned eight points for Grosjean in the championship driver standings and eight points for Haas F1 Team in the constructor standings.
It placed the new kids on the block an unfathomable fifth in the constructor standings, buttressed by teams with decades more experience. The last time a Formula One team scored points in its debut race was in 2002 when Mika Salo finished sixth for Toyota at the Australian Grand Prix, a span of 14 years.
Grosjean’s teammate, Esteban Gutiérrez, proved quick as well at Australia, despite not having the results to show for his efforts. In the elimination-style qualifying format that debuted on Saturday, Gutiérrez was putting down a lap that would’ve placed him seventh in Q1, more than enough to vault him into Q2. But time ran out on his lap, and instead of being one of the 15 fastest drivers to advance into the second round of qualifying, Gutiérrez was left 20th.
The silver lining to the unsatisfactory result was that Gutiérrez knew his car was fast and capable of driving to the front come Sunday. Unfortunately, Gutiérrez’s race was over on lap 17 when Fernando Alonso clipped Gutiérrez’s left-rear tire as the duo entered turn three. The impact launched Alonso into the air and sent Gutiérrez spinning into the gravel trap. Both drivers walked away from the harrowing accident.
Gutiérrez’s travails and Grosjean’s point-scoring finish are now in the rearview mirror as Formula One packs up from the land down under to head to Bahrain, site of Round No. 2 on the 21-race Formula One schedule. Practice begins Friday, April 1, with qualifying on Saturday, April 2 and the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday, April 3.
Grosjean has four career Formula One starts at the 5.412-kilometer (3.363-mile), 15-turn Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, with a best finish of third, earned twice in back-to-back seasons in 2012 and 2013. And that third-place run in 2012 marked Grosjean’s first career podium finish. Gutiérrez has two Formula One starts at Bahrain, both with the Sauber F1 Team in 2013 and 2014.
Bahrain made its debut on the Formula One calendar in 2004, becoming the first grand prix to be held in the Middle East. The 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix marks the 12th in series history. The circuit is known for massive run-off areas, with substantial track width across its layout.
This encourages overtaking, but has been criticized for not punishing drivers who make mistakes and stray off course. Since the track is located in the middle of the desert, sand can pose a problem – to the level of grip on the racetrack and to the performance of the car, with the engine’s air filters checked thoroughly and often.
These challenges, along with the raised expectations from Haas F1 Team’s performance in Australia, greet the organization in Bahrain.
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