Haas have confirmed that the suspension failure which dumped Kevin Magnussen out of the Mexico Grand Prix was triggered by a “heat issue” with the Dane’s brakes.

Magnussen’s VF-23 suddenly snapped and pitched the Dane straight into the TecPro barriers at Turn 9 on Lap 32, triggering a red flag for the clean-up operation and barrier repairs.

Magnussen was able to remove himself from the car unaided just moments before a fire erupted at the rear of the heavily damaged Haas.

Replays showed that Magnussen had suffered a rear left suspension failure as he traversed the high-speed esses after running in 17th.

Prior to the incident, Magnussen had been under pressure from Logan Sargeant and had shifted his brake balance rearwards in an effort to fend off the American.

Sargeant found his way past Magnussen a few corners before his eventual accident, which was caused by heat from the brakes leading to a suspected track rod failure.

Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner told Autosport: “It was a heat issue which caused a suspension failure. It was heat from the brakes.

“Kevin was defending, and it tipped over. It was just because of the high temperatures here. We just need to manage it better. Nico’s car was OK.”

On his return to the paddock, an unharmed Magnussen said: “Yeah, suspension gave up. I haven’t seen the team yet so perhaps they have some more information, but the rear left specifically, lost a lot of grip a couple of laps before and then it gave up.

“I think it was going alright. At the beginning of the race it was better and suddenly I fell off more than the others and then the suspension gave up. So I don’t know if it’s related, maybe there’s something there but I need to talk to the guys.

“It happened in a bad place and I hit the wall, so I got a knock on my hands and they hurt a little bit, but they’re fine.

One lap before the crash, Magnussen was seen running over the astroturf and kerbs at the exit of the final corner having spent much of his afternoon in traffic.

“Before that, it was going okay, I was stuck in traffic for a long time and cooked my tires, but I don’t know if whatever caused the failure had an impact for a while beforehand,” he added.

Haas team-mate Nico Hulkenberg looked to contend for points but had to settle for 13th at the chequered flag after struggling to hold onto his tyres.

“Nico was in a good position to get points, but then with the red flag, which we caused ourselves, we couldn’t keep the tyres in the last stint,” Steiner conceded.

“Our car can’t keep life in the tyres as other cars. We could fight for almost the whole distance, but almost isn’t good enough. Otherwise, it seems like the whole team performed well and Nico drove fantastically to try and get something.”

The failure to score points means that Haas now dropped to the bottom of the Constructors’ standings as a P7 finish for Daniel Ricciardo saw AlphaTauri draw level with Alfa Romeo.

The Haas Formula 1 team’s Trackside Engineering Director Ayao Komatsu was unable to fault Oliver Bearman after his FP1 debut in Mexico City with the team.

The 18-year-old Ferrari Driver Academy member has made a name as a breakthrough talent in his rookie Formula 2 campaign this season, notching up four victories.

Bearman was still racing karts in 2020, before making the step to the ADAC and Italian Formula 4 championships the same year. He won both titles the following year.

In 2022, third in his rookie Formula 3 campaign with Prema earned a graduation to F2 for 2023 where he currently holds sixth in the standings with one round remaining.

Now just under four years from his transition from karting to cars, Bearman’s maiden appearance during an F1 session marks another major milestone in his career.

F1 regulations require each team to field a rookie, a driver who has started no more than two grands prix, in two FP1 sessions across the season – once per car.

Stepping in for Kevin Magnussen, Bearman placed 15th in the session, only two-tenths adrift of the experienced Nico Hulkenberg in the sister VF-23 car.

When asked to sum up his first impressions of the rookie, Komatsu was full of praise for the youngster.

 I don’t think you can fault him: he’s done really well. But all the way from the initial preparation, he’s been very professional, very, very easy to deal with in every single process, I have nothing to complain [about],” Komatsu commended.

Bearman completed 30 laps of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, the most of any of the five rookies that made guest appearances during the session.

“And then today,” Komatsu continued. “With the calmness, procedures he understood, he understood the objectives of every single run.

“He didn’t put a foot wrong, really. I mean, he didn’t maximise the Soft tyre. That lap-time difference you talked about, Nico’s lap wasn’t great either so you can’t read too much into it, but in terms of his feedback, it was really good, engagement with his engineers, really, really good job. Really impressed.”

On his debut, a best lap time of 1:21.313s saw him end his outing a respectable 1.5s off the benchmark set by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

“Once he was in the car and out on the track, he understood all the objectives, what we needed to achieve on each run, each lap and how to  use the tyres,” added the engineer, who joined Haas ahead of its inaugural season in 2016.

“The surprise is how well he managed everything, really. Honestly, I can’t pick a moment from all the way through that preparation where something was frustrating or difficult, including his management.

“It’s been a really smooth process. It’s been a pleasure to work with him and his management team.

“I don’t think you can expect much better. And then yeah, certainly, better than my expectations were. Not that my expectation was low. But that was so professional and he didn’t put a foot wrong.

“The communication and the feedback were really good as well. So really, I’ve got nothing to complain about. It was really impressive FP1.”

Komatsu was asked to compare Bearman’s performance with that of current Ferrari ace Charles Leclerc, who participated in four FP1 sessions with the American outfit in 2016.

“I think it’s a bit difficult to make a direct comparison, really,” Komatsu posited. “But honestly, if I just think about today, he’s done so well. Really, really, well.

“I really can’t fault him today. So, we got another session planned with him in Abu Dhabi. So really looking forward to that. And then yeah, hopefully more sessions next year as well. So it’s very promising.”

Speaking after the session, Bearman was pleased with his efforts but he is acutely aware that there is still plenty of room for improvement.

“I mean my first goal was to just have a clean session and we did that which is the main thing so I’m really happy to have just delivered a clean session to start with,” the Briton said.

“I got up to speed quite fast I felt, I had a really good confidence in the car. More or less I’m happy. There’s always a few things, it was my first time doing everything. My first time on the Soft tyre, my first long runs… I would do better the second time, but for a first time, I was very happy.

“I spoke with them and they just said good job. We knew what the main goal was, pretty much just bring the car home. [But to do that and end] in a pretty decent position comparing to the guys around us is an added bonus.

“I think the main thing was that we built up very cleanly and had a clean session and not many big mistakes.”

The Ferrari prospect will again perform FP1 duties with Haas in Abu Dhabi – the same weekend as the Formula 2 finale.

Asked what his plans are until then, he responded: “Set a timer! It’s a long way away. It’s a bit unfortunate, it [FP1] was over so fast. Now I’m just going to be back on the sim, back preparing for Abu Dhabi.

“Obviously my main focus is F2 and this is just an added bonus on top to do the FP1s so the same preparation as I did for this race.”

Ferrari junior driver Oliver Bearman asserts that he has been set “no targets from anyone” ahead of making his Formula 1 bow in FP1 at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

It was announced earlier this month that Bearman would be driving for the Haas team in the first practice session in both Mexico and Abu Dhabi at the end of November.

The Briton is currently competing in his maiden campaign in the Formula 2 category, where he has scored four victories to sit sixth overall with one round remaining.

Asked when he was informed he would be making his debut at an F1 grand prix weekend, Bearman answered: “After I won the feature race in Monza, my boss – Marco [Matassa], the boss of the FDA – told me to come to his office after I finished the podium and everything and he told me.

“I knew something would be on the cards because it had been going really well, but it was nice to finally get the news.”

Prior to getting behind the wheel of the VF-23 in Mexico on Friday, Bearman previously drove Ferrari’s 2021 car, the SF-21, at the Maranello camp’s Fiorano test track.

Bearman admitted that the leap from F2 machinery to F1 was instantly “pretty big”, adding that the main performance gain came “mostly in [the] cornering ability of the car.”

“Of course, it was a 2021 car so the ride’s a bit better and I’d say a bit easier to drive,” he continued. “But I was quite surprised at the G-force you can pull in braking and cornering. Fiorano is only a short track but it was enough to find the potential of a Formula 1 car.”

Under the current regulations, every team on the F1 grid is obliged to give two practice sessions per season to a driver who has made fewer than two grand prix starts.

Courtesy of its close technical collaboration with Ferrari, Haas has previously run many of the marque’s academy prospects, including Charles Leclerc and Mick Schumacher.

“I’m sure it helps a little bit, obviously they have a good relationship with Ferrari… Of course, they’ve had rookie drivers before and they know about that I will need a little bit more info and a little bit of catching up compared to the real drivers,” he noted.

“But they’re good with that and they’ve worked with a lot of rookies so it’s seamless.”

Bearman believes the most challenging aspect of his debut outing will be managing the rapid track evolution usually evident at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

“The switches is something at least I get to with the sim and with the test Fiorano, it’s quite a similar set-up to what Ferrari has so that’s nice,” he explained.

“My other issue is cars on track which could complicate things a bit, but for me I think the most complicated bit is going to be the track evolution.

“It starts very dusty here and with the altitude as well the grip level is low, so I think just getting to grips with that and understanding what the car needs will be the main difficulty.”

He added: “Of course like Guenther [Steiner, Haas Team Principal] said there’s no positives, nothing to win on a Friday – it’s a mandatory session and I just need to bring the car back.”

Alongside the group of engineers he’ll be working with on Friday, the 18-year-old has also revealed that Haas driver Kevin Magnussen has been aiding his preparation.

“Yeah especially Kevin’s been quite useful, just giving a bit of knowledge about little stuff that probably to him doesn’t seem like anything but for someone coming into the car for the first time is very useful.

“And yeah any questions they’ve always been there to answer, but also the engineers, so that’s been nice and at least I can go to sleep tonight without any questions in the back of my head.”

Meanwhile, Bearman has denied that Ferrari has outlined any specific targets for him.

“No targets, no targets from anyone – even from myself,” he contended. I think it would be silly to set any expectations, my first target is just to enjoy it.

“I’ve had it drummed into me a lot now, there’s nothing to win from here, just do a solid job, build up step-by-step and enjoy it as well. So that’s my target.”

Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen insist that the debut of Haas’ revised car at last weekend’s United States Grand Prix delivered a “positive” initial impression.

Having conceded that its previous concept had hit a development ceiling, Haas became the final team to convert to the downwash sidepod solution at its home race in Austin.

After a suboptimal qualifying session on Friday, Haas elected to withdraw both cars to the pit lane for the race in order to conduct further set-up changes on its updated VF-23.

While Haas was unable to add to its points tally on Sunday, Hulkenberg believes the American side’s heavily upgraded package already provided a noticeable step forward.

“Obviously, Sprint weekend, so not an easy one for us,” he reflected. “And then obviously, we decided to do some big set-up changes and opted for the pit-lane start which obviously, made life a bit harder for the race. But in hindsight, it was the right decision.

“We were more competitive on Sunday. And I think that was the first time and the first day where some positive signs and steps were seen.

“I think, in terms of tyre management, this was one of the best races in a while for us. So, still exploring, still finding out and learning more about the package. And I hope there’s more to come as we go. But it was it was positive, let’s say.”

Magnussen previously warned that Haas was targeting getting on the right development path for next year over immediate improvements with its new car.

The Dane’s comments came amid the Kannapolis squad being compromised this year by the existing homologated crash structure around the side of the monocoque.

However, Magnussen has concurred with Hulkenberg’s view that he has recognised instant progress towards rectifying some of the team’s long-standing weaknesses.

Magnussen added: “I think there were some interesting and positive signs with the upgraded car. It’s a compromise, it’s not just a better car. We knew that; it’s not a surprise.

“On paper, we knew there wasn’t going to be a big lap time improvement, but we were hoping that some of the characteristics, some of the traits and weaknesses that we’ve seen all year were changed by this upgrade.

“And I think we saw some positive signs that it’s addressing some of these weaknesses.”

Haas’ campaign has been stymied by tyre degradation woes preventing the team from converting a plethora of promising starting berths into more regular points hauls.

Asked whether the post-race data showed Haas had made improvements in that area against its rivals, Magnussen said: “I think so, but we have to do a bit more races to feel confident that it actually is better.

“I think we saw some improvements in low-speed performance, but then we took a big hit in high-speed performance, so that’s a trade-off and a compromise that you’re making. But we need to run more and see whether the trend continues.”

The Haas duo remain wary of the challenge awaiting the team this weekend in Mexico as it bids to utilise the conventional weekend format to learn more about its upgrades.

The unique nature of the high altitude present at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez places “extreme” demands on the cooling of the cars, particularly in the race.

“We’re coming here to a pretty low-speed track, but the ambient pressure and because of the altitude you run the car in a very different configuration with the cooling,” Magnussen explained.

“And the cooling you need to run here is pretty extreme. Perhaps we take a little bit more of a hit with that as the new aero package doesn’t have as broad a spectrum of cooling options.”

“I mean, it’s obviously a quite different circuit here, different circumstances, you know, the usual Mexico challenges here with cooling, for car, for brakes, the thin air,” Hulkenberg added.

“It’s always challenging, every year. But it’s just about, you know, maximising our package and putting the best car possible on the track.”

The United States Grand Prix earmarked the arrival of Haas introducing its eagerly-anticipated upgrade package – but the modifications to the VF-23 failed to inspire a happy homecoming, leaving the American outfit on the brink of slumping to the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship.

Haas arrived back on home soil for the second of three scheduled rounds in the States as a team desperately in need of a strong result, having only amassed a solitary point across the previous eight rounds.

Consequently, the team’s stagnant progress had opened the door for fellow Ferrari engine customer Alfa Romeo to leapfrog Haas in the order with a double points haul in Qatar.

But, unlike its closest rivals, Haas had the promise of a highly revised car on the way.

Courtesy of its close technical collaboration with Ferrari, Haas persisted with the ‘bathtub’ sidepod concept into this year. But an aerodynamic imbalance saw Ferrari abandon the philosophy earlier in the campaign, culminating in the Italian marque returning to winning ways in Singapore last month.

After accompanying Ferrari in refusing to plough further resources into an idea that had reached its development ceiling, Haas rented a workshop in Austin ahead of the weekend to ensure it could deliver the changes that would ensure it became the final team on the grid to converge to the downwash sidepod solution pioneered successfully by World Champions Red Bull.

The VF-23, sporting a tweaked US-themed livery for Austin, brought improvements to the floor, engine cover, sidepod inlet, sidepods, quarter panel and padding gills.

The alterations were primarily targeted at rectifying Haas’ long-standing tyre degradation woes, which have repeatedly stymied the team from converting promising grid positions into regular points scores.

Although Kevin Magnussen wound up fifth in the sole practice hour ahead of qualifying at the Circuit of the Americas on Friday, the Dane then failed to advance to Q3. Meanwhile, team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, usually a one-lap specialist, couldn’t even escape elimination from the first segment.

Nevertheless, Magnussen remained optimistic about the Kannapolis-based squad’s weekend prospects at that stage, insisting that he retained the pace to reach the top 10, adding that the race would determine the true extent of the progress Haas had made with its latest developments.

“The real question is whether the car is better on the tyres, if the performance is better there,” Magnussen assessed post-qualifying. “That’s what we’re really looking for. Not really whether we’re a little bit better on one lap or not, that’s not the question.”

Fast forward a day and Magnussen’s pre-weekend excitement had dissipated into overwhelming concern. The 19-lap Sprint encounter on Saturday evening exposed a familiar tale of the sight of both Haas drivers being powerless to prevent their plight once tyre wear became a factor in race trim.

“It didn’t look too good, honestly. But we’ll investigate and see what we think,” Magnussen explained. “It’s just frustrating. [The tyre struggles] looked a little bit similar [to before]. The pace dropped off a lot.

“I got a decent start and a decent first lap, then stayed there for a few laps before the well-known cycle of getting overtaken and the tyres dropping off started.”

However, Hulkenberg remained slightly more upbeat about Haas’ unsettling predicament, citing how the Sprint format had afforded the team only one practice session to optimise its heavily transformative package before parc ferme regulations were enforced.

The German driver added: “First glimpse, obviously not a transformation, unfortunately. But it feels like it was the first real session, with this car, with this package.

“There’s more to explore, more to unlock, probably also to readjust the set-up. But we need time and track time and we didn’t quite have that yet. But it was expected to be tricky to bring an update of that magnitude and hit it on the head the first time.”

Subsequently, Haas elected to withdraw both cars from the starting grid to the pitlane ahead of Sunday’s grand prix, allowing the team to conduct further set-up changes.

Ultimately, the gamble would not yield a return to points-scoring ways, as Hulkenberg was pipped by Logan Sargeant in the closing stages for what transpired to be 10th place, with Magnussen trailing behind in 14th.

But Team Principal Guenther Steiner maintained that Haas made the correct choice in sacrificing its qualifying result to experiment further with its new package, leaving the side better placed ahead of the remaining four rounds of the season.

“I mean, today was better than yesterday,” he admitted. “Thank God we made the decision to go out of the pit lane with the changed aero set-up. Obviously, we now need to look at data and stuff like this to have a better starting position in Mexico with the setup.

“We were a little bit behind, knowing that we only had one hour. It’s not like saying that we did a bad job, it was just very tight, such a big upgrade, and going in here.

“But we knew the risk, and we took the race, but I think we know for sure a lot more now than we did before. And hopefully we can put it into performance in Mexico.”

Unfortunately for Haas, its turn to unveil radical upgrades failed to deliver the sort of instant, fruitful gains that McLaren profited from earlier in the year, with Lando Norris recording a fourth consecutive podium.

Whereas McLaren’s resurgence continued as the Woking camp displaced Aston Martin for fourth position in the Constructors’ table, Haas’ dire run continued. The ongoing rut for America’s sole F1 entry was compounded by a selection of its rivals taking advantage to make up ground in the points standings.

AlphaTauri managed to sneak into the top 10, stealing the fastest lap with a late dash, before Yuki Tsunoda was promoted to eighth once Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified when post-race checks discovered that their cars didn’t comply with the regulations governing plank wear.

Meanwhile, their misfortune also elevated Williams into the top half with both cars – including granting Logan Sargeant’s first-ever F1 point to cement its hold on seventh place.

But more pertinently, AlphaTauri’s five-point haul marked its best return of the season to date and brought the Italian entity to within only two points of the struggling Haas side.

The Faenza squad were boosted by an amended floor for the US GP weekend, which supported the Red Bull-inspired upgrade it bolted onto the AT04 in Singapore. Since then, AlphaTauri has been a much-improved force in comparison to its lacklustre start and will also be backed by an increased synergy with the senior team from next year.

Tsunoda continued his quietly impressive campaign with another strong drive, while experienced eight-time grand prix winner Daniel Ricciardo is certain to contribute to the team’s endeavours once he overcomes the race rust that was evident in his return appearance from a broken hand injury.

On current form, Haas are the favourites for the F1 equivalent of the wooden spoon, which would entitle it to the lowest amount of prize money from the available pot. However, it would also be a sizeable blow to a team that effectively sacrificed the entirety of 2021, the last season under the previous regulations, to commence this latest technical cycle from a promising base.

But despite Haas being required to hit the reset button again, Steiner is convinced that Haas is now heading in the right direction towards a brighter future once more.

“I don’t know how good it is [the upgrades] yet,” the Italian added. “At least both drivers could race some people today, because the last five [races] we were just being overtaken, and at least we could overtake some people today. Are we good enough? No. We need to get more out of it. At least we’re moving in the right direction,” he concluded.

In the short term, the upgrades failed to reignite Haas’ torrid season and has positioned it at risk of bringing up the rear in 2023. But the true test of its latest overhaul will be whether the team can avoid its current slide from becoming another prolonged period rooted to the bottom.

Kevin Magnussen says the eagerly-anticipated car concept change Haas is introducing at the United States Grand Prix is “exciting” amid a “tough year” for the whole team.

This weekend, Haas will belatedly become the final team this season to convert to the downwash sidepod solution successfully pioneered by World Champions Red Bull.

On Thursday in Austin, Haas revealed its new-look car, which includes improvements to the floor, engine cover, sidepod inlet, sidepods, quarter panel and padding gills.

After accepting it had hit a performance ceiling with the previous launch-spec philosophy on its VF-23, the American outfit had added minimal upgrades beforehand.

Haas will be bidding to add to its meagre points tally across the remaining five rounds, with the team being demoted to ninth in the standings by Alfa Romeo last time out.

However, Magnussen asserts Haas’ revised car will be more imperative for feeding into the development of next year rather than delivering instant performance gains.

“Yeah, it’s good. It’s nice to see the upgrade on the car, finally,” Magnussen beamed.

“We haven’t had many upgrades to the car this year. It’s been a tough year in terms of just finding performance. The guys have been really struggling this year to make gains on the car we’ve had.

“And, you know, I think this upgrade is an exciting one, because it’s very different. On paper, it’s not actually meant to be more downforce as such, but it’s a new concept.

“And it’s hopefully the concept that we’ll be using for next year’s car. And, you know, if it’s not a big gain in performance, then at least It’s some good learning and research into next year.”

Haas’ attempts to accumulate more than the 12 points it has thus far have been stymied by failing to translate promising qualifying displays into top-10 race finishes.

The Kannapolis squad have been thwarted by consistent tyre degradation woes, which Magnussen hopes the upgrades rectify.

“I think a big problem with our car this year has been that it doesn’t treat the tyres very well in the race,” Magnussen explained. “So, we’ll just struggle with tyre life in the races.

“The pace that other people are able to maintain, we seem to fall off much more and that problem might be – although you’re not putting extra downforce, like, peak downforce – if you can better the characteristics of the car, the through-corner balance and, you know, hopefully, the structure and the strength of the flow on the car, that could solve that issue or help that issue.

“So that’s, of course, what we’re hoping for. Yeah, nonetheless, it’s exciting.”

The second home race of the season for Haas marks one year since the team announced it had struck a deal with MoneyGram to become its title sponsor.

Following the troublesome short-term arrangement with Rich Energy, Magnussen believes Haas’ latest revisions wouldn’t have been possible without its newest investment.

Asked whether the sponsorship has changed the mood at Haas, Magnussen replied: “Yeah, it has. I mean, it’s a good sponsorship.

“It’s money – and we all know what that means in Formula 1. I think the situation we have right now, where we have five races left of the season, and we’re bringing a fairly substantial upgrade, that is something that wouldn’t have happened in the past.

“We haven’t brought many upgrades this year, but that’s because the team hasn’t found the improvements that justified producing a big upgrade and spending that money for not a big gain.

“So, you know, they’ve changed concept and they’re now finding much more in the wind tunnel and it looks much more promising in the future development.

“So, bringing this upgrade with a few races to go is a very positive thing. You know, as I said, of course we hopefully it will improve our pace on track right now but even if it isn’t, then it’s still very good learning and very good research for next year’s development.”

The Haas Formula 1 team have released images of the revised livery it will run this weekend for its home race, the United States Grand Prix.

After confirming its drivers would sport special race suits earlier this week, America’s sole F1 outfit has shown the design its VF-23 cars will adorn at the Circuit of the Americas.

The team will retain its customary black-and-white colour scheme but has added the stars and stripes of the United States flag to the side of its 2023 charger for this one round.

Furthermore, Haas has announced it will celebrate the special occasion with the “special” tagline of “we the people”, which forms the opening line of the Constitution of the United States.

Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner states it elected to embrace its American roots amid the backdrop of the FIA formally accepting Andretti’s proposal to join the F1 grid recently.

“One thing that is different this season, is our look and feel is encapsulated under the tagline ‘We The People’ – the first line of the American Constitution,” Steiner said.

“There’s obviously a lot of talk about American teams right now, but we’re still currently the only American team on the Formula 1 grid.”

“Many have said for years that we haven’t exploited that fact, but I’ve always said that’s because we want to earn credibility within the paddock first.

“We’ve been through a lot in our short time, but along the way have amassed a very loyal, and growing fanbase, and we want to recognize them.”

Steiner added that the altered livery provided “some nice marketing, but anyone who works with my team knows how passionate they are, and how funny and genuine our fans are. This race is dedicated to them as, we the people, make Haas what it is.”

Aside from an updated livery, Haas’ prospects this weekend will also be bolstered by the addition of a sizeable Red Bull-inspired upgrade package.

Haas were overhauled by Alfa Romeo last time out in Qatar, dropping the Kannapolis-based camp to ninth in the Constructors’ Championship with five rounds remaining.

The team will be hopeful that its updated car can inspire an upturn in form, having only collected a solitary point across the previous eight rounds.

Haas’ spate of new parts will see improvements made to the floor, engine cover, sidepod inlet, sidepods, quarter panel and padding gills.

Regarding the updates, Steiner explained: “The upgrade on the VF-23 is aerodynamic. We changed the concept of the car because what we started with, because of the new regulations last year, we couldn’t make any more gains performance-wise.

“Creating more downforce and less drag, it just wasn’t there anymore, so we needed to change concept, to which is commonly known as the “Red Bull concept” or the “downwash concept”.

“It is a substantial update, and we’re able to do this within the cost cap because we didn’t have any updates at the beginning of the season because again, going back, we couldn’t find any performance that we could make parts to put on the car.”

Kevin Magnussen details that the revisions are being made with the performance of next year’s car in mind rather than searching for immediate gains this weekend.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t hope it will give us a big improvement, but I think there’s actually a second element to bringing this upgrade which is to research for next year,” Magnussen stated.

“I think we’re all secretly hoping it performs better than what we currently have but actually the bigger target with this is, is the research and the learning we can do for next year’s car.

“I think it’s been clear that in very specific circumstances our car can perform, but it’s a too narrow window and we need to broaden it and make it more user-friendly and compliant with a bigger variety of tracks and conditions. Hopefully we’ll be able to follow easier and be more friendly to tyres.”

Meanwhile, Red Bull is also set to unveil a new livery ahead of this weekend’s racing action getting underway on Friday.

The recently-crowned World Champions made a pledge before the campaign that it would run designs created by fans at the three rounds scheduled to be held in the USA in 2023.

So far, only the Miami Grand Prix has taken place, with Las Vegas making its F1 bow in mid-November, one week before the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

The founder of Rich Energy, the ex-Haas Formula 1 team title sponsor, is reportedly attempting to complete a purchase of English Football League side Reading Football Club.

Having failed to initially secure an agreement with the Williams team, William Storey announced ahead of the 2019 season that Rich Energy had struck a deal with Haas, F1’s newest incumbent.

However, the relationship rapidly deteriorated, with Storey citing the American outfit’s poor performance as the reason for the deal being terminated.

After recording a fifth-place finish in the Constructors’ Championship the previous year, Haas had slumped to ninth place, a position it would occupy until the end of the campaign.

The partnership would come to an end officially shortly after, Haas stating that the two parties had “amicably agreed to end their partnership together with immediate effect.”

Following that collapse, Rich Energy has continued its foray into motorsport. Storey cancelled a deal with British Superbikes team OMG Racing in 2020 after claiming it “repeatedly acted in bad faith”.

Rich Energy has also sponsored BTC Racing in the British Touring Car Championship in 2022 before becoming the title sponsor of Ducati’s participation in the Ducati Performance TriOptions Cup last year.

However, Storey has also attempted to venture into football on multiple occasions, previously failing with bids to complete a takeover of Coventry City and Sunderland FC.

But the Daily Telegraph reveals that Storey has agreed terms with Reading FC owner Yongge Dail in a £50m deal, subject to him adhering to the English Football League’s ‘fit and proper persons test’.

Reading was relegated to the third tier of English football last season, having incurred a six-point penalty for breaching the Football League’s probability and sustainability rules.

The Royals, as Reading are known, currently reside in the relegation zone in League 1 with a total of only six points from their opening 11 games of the season.

The club received a winding-up order from HM Revenue & Customs in June.

Meanwhile, Haas proceeded to pen a deal with Russian company Uralkali for 2021, which came to an abrupt end in early 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Kannapolis-based squad has since rebranded to MoneyGram Haas F1 Team to reflect the side’s latest title sponsorship agreement, signed ahead of the current season.

Kevin Magnussen says Haas will strive to re-pass Alfa Romeo in the championship but has cautioned that the team cannot expect a miracle with its impending upgrade.

Haas has endured a difficult season with its VF-23 suffering from high tire degradation in race trim.

Magnussen and team-mate Nico Hulkenberg have taken only five points finishes this season and only one of those, Magnussen’s point in Singapore, has come in the last eight events.

Alfa Romeo’s double top 10 finish in Qatar enabled the team to leap four points clear of Haas and move into eighth place in the standings.

Haas is due to bring a heavily revised VF-23 to the next event in Austin, having abandoned development of its current concept, in a long-term bid to address its current weaknesses.

“It’s a tight fight with those guys but we’ve got to hang on and try our best to get them back,” said Magnussen.

“We get an upgrade next race and we’re all very happy about that, and excited to work with that upgrade.

“We’re not expecting a miracle for the first race maybe, and it might take a race or two to really get the most out of it, but there’s still some positive stuff to look forward to.”

Haas boss Guenther Steiner is also keen to assess the performance of the new-spec VF-23.

“The end of this spec car ended worse than it started, so we’re thankful to see the end of it,” he said.

“We’ll come back in Austin with the upgrade and hopefully it works and at least we know we’re doing things to move forward – we’re not sitting here waiting for the end of the season. We will work hard until the end of the season.”

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has labelled issues with Pirelli’s tyres as an embarrassment for Formula 1 with the series forced into schedule and circuit changes at the Qatar Grand Prix.

The FIA announced on Saturday that micro-cuts had been observed by the sport’s tyre supplier following the sole practice session on Friday afternoon.

It was stated that damage had been seen on all types of tyre compounds, with each set not seeing more than around 20 laps of use.

Prior to F1’s arrival in Qatar, substantial renovations had been made to the Lusail International Circuit which included the instalment of a new ‘Pyramid’ kerbing solution on corner exits.

It is believed that these kerbs, paired with high speeds and high load between Turns 12 and 14, contributed to the problem. For safety purposes, this part of the circuit has been narrowed by 80cm and a new kerb painted on the tarmac inside of the offending kerbs.

Drivers were afforded an extra 10-minutes of track time ahead of the Sprint Shootout to familiarise themselves with the revisions, however track limits dominated the narrative in the session.

“It’s not right. I don’t know where the history of these new kerbs come from but it just came up out of the blue,” Steiner told the media in response to the FIA’s statement.

“They were supposed to develop some kerbs that don’t damage the tyres, but apparently the kerbs we have developed damage the tyres. I don’t know exactly where it comes from, these tyres I think just cannot deal it.

“It’s a concerning thing for the future. It shouldn’t happen. This should not happen in Formula One. Clearly,” he added.

“I don’t know if you want to call it embarrassing, but in the end, it is embarrassing because this is not where we should be.”

The 2023 running of the Qatar Grand Prix is only F1’s second visit to the Lusail circuit. The inaugural event hosted in 2021 saw several drivers encounter tyre failures which were largely blamed on the kerbs used at the time.

“There was some signs already here two years ago, we had issues but they were different kerbs,” the Haas team principal continued.

“I didn’t speak with Pirelli yet to see what actually is happening, but I think if they found issues with the tyres that is what they need to do to make sure that we are not having a scenario like a few years ago, that you have got tyres going down which is never good.

“At least they are proactively doing something for tomorrow and now going out changing some of the track limits so that we are not going over these kerbs should help a little bit.”

Asked whether there was any blame to apportion as a result of the revisions made to the running of the Qatar Grand Prix weekend, Steiner said: “I don’t know exactly who. I think the FIA is inspecting the race track, I think FOM is not in charge of that one. The race track… I don’t know. 

“On the kerbs there is an FIA standard on kerbs so I don’t know what has gone wrong there. I don’t know all the details so maybe some of my answers aren’t correct. But the track needs to be inspected for safety reasons and tyres are a safety item on a race car.

“We have more than one racetrack that [hosts both F1 and MotoGP]. Austria, they are doing motorbike races. Silverstone, they are doing motorbikes. COTA, they did them. So I don’t think that has… I wouldn’t say nothing to do with it, but I don’t think that’s why it is.”

The FIA and Pirelli will conduct further, in-depth analysis of tyres following this evening’s 19 lap Sprint Race.

In the event that the issues persist despite the changes already introduced, the FIA has said it will issue a directive mandating a maximum stint length of 20 laps and effectively forcing a three-stop race.