The Haas Formula 1 team has passed the mandatory FIA crash tests for its 2022 challenger, the VF-22.

After a tumultuous 2020 campaign, the American outfit dedicated almost all of its resources to the 2022 project in the hopes of making a step forward into F1’s new era of technical regulations.

This decision saw Haas slump to the bottom of the 2021 Constructors’ Championship for the first time after its sixth season in F1.

The VF-21 was uncompetitive, and failed to score a point across the 22 races with rookie drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

Due to its dedication to the 2022 project – coupled with recovering from Romain Grosjean’s fiery crash in Bahrain – Haas fell behind and was forced to put the finishing touches to the VF-21 at the opening test.

Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner admits the team’s approach may not see it make a dramatic leap up the field due to its smaller size, but asserts it isn’t afraid of trying to achieve as much as possible.

Speaking to Autosport, Steiner said: “I think we will be still the underdog, which is trying to punch above its weight, because our structure is exactly the same like it was in ’18, ’19.

“We changed a little bit instead of using Dallara people now we’ve got our own people and some of the people from Ferrari, which were moved from there, because of the budget cap. But we are still the smallest team.

“I think people wise, production-wise obviously we are by far the smallest, so I think we’re still the team we were in 2018. And we want to get back to ’16, ’17, ’18, ’19, whatever you want to call it. We still want to be known to be that.”

Haas will continue with the driver line-up of Schumacher and Mazepin next year, with Pietro Fittipaldi once again holding reserve driving duties.

Pato O’Ward has made it clear he would not leave the NTT IndyCar Series to drop into a junior championship in order to make a potential move to Formula 1.

The Mexican recently tested the 2021 McLaren MCL35M at the post-season test around the Yas Marina circuit and was taken aback by the pace of the car.

Despite winning the 2018 Indy Lights title, O’Ward struggled to get a full-time IndyCar seat for the following season and was signed into the Red Bull Junior Program.

As a result, the 22-year-old completed short stints in the Japanese Super Formula and FIA Formula 2 with little success and was released before the end of the year.

“I’m very happy where I am in IndyCar,” said O’Ward. “I’m going to be an IndyCar driver with McLaren next year, but if I could make the move over here it’s going to be straight from IndyCar.

“I don’t plan to go to any other junior, F2 or F3, I’ve driven the F2, I don’t have many good things to say about it to be perfectly honest with you. But F1 is just ridiculous.

“Yeah, straight from IndyCar to be perfectly honest I don’t think I’d have issues, I ended up very at home feeling everything out.

“I think the team can speak to that, they see a lot more of the analysis and everything, from a driver standpoint there was more pace I could extract later on whenever I get to know the car a bit more but in terms of getting to a very good baseline, I’m very happy with today.”

O’Ward did not want his day of testing to come to an end despite losing neck strength toward the end. Despite this, the Mexican is keen to gain more time in F1 machinery going forward.

“I didn’t want [it] to end, to be honest with you,” he added. “It’s just unbelievable. It’s just amazing, what all us racing drivers want to feel is just go as fast as you can, brake as late as you can, you want to feel everything, and this car gives you that and more.

“Obviously I didn’t know the car so for me, this is like ‘Oh my god!’ Probably once you get into a rhythm and know it a lot more 2-3-4 year drivers for sure more grip, which is understandable. These things bend the laws of physics, it’s just absurd, absurd what they’re able to do.

“Right now this is it. This is all that is planned right now but I told Zak, man, you’re going to spoil me, I’m going to be annoying you after that test.”

Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward has ecstatically opened up on his maiden Formula 1 experience during the post-season test at the Yas Marina Circuit.

The Mexican’s appearance at the test was the result of a bet with McLaren CEO Zak Brown who offered a test in the MCL35M should he claim his first IndyCar victory.

The 22-year-old would eventually claim two wins and ultimately finish the 2021 IndyCar season third in the drivers’ championship behind Josef Newgarden and champion Alex Palou.

O’Ward was left jaw-dropped by the pace of an F1 car compared to the IndyCar; he finished the day fourth fastest, completing 92 laps, his best time was a 1:24.607, 1.4s behind pacesetter Nyck de Vries.

“It feels… it just feels so good! Like it feels… the change of direction, the downforce, the stopping power,” O’Ward exclaimed.

“It’s unlike anything, nothing I’ve driven comes close to this. Like, not even a hint of close. It is Un…Believable. So cool.

“Which honestly at the end of the day, another part where I didn’t get everything together on one lap is I was about to lose my head. Man. My neck is, like, destroyed.”

“This is the best experience I’ve ever had in a race car in my life. I don’t think anything has come close to it in terms of driving, in terms of feeling what it’s capable of, in feeling its limits, nothing comes close to it.

“The feeling for example an IndyCar gives you is crazy, but you get into this and just the way it’s able to do everything so fast, and everything is so compressed, it’s like a video game, it’s unreal.”

“Being in the car and feeling all the things the car can give you, the amount of G, on the fast corners, it’s unbelievable. It’s addictive.”

“I got out of the car and kept wanting to go in to feel it again. Everything works, smooth, gentle, and where you want to go you can throw the thing around and the thing just sticks.”

Dale Coyne Racing has signed IndyCar veteran Takuma Sato for the full 2022 NTT IndyCar Series campaign filling the vacant seat left by the Andretti Autosport-bound Romain Grosjean.

The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner will drive the No.51 Rick Ware Racing entry across the 17-race season which begins in St.Petersburg, Florida on February 27.

The former Formula 1 driver moved to IndyCar in 2010 and has picked up six victories, 14 podiums and 10 pole positions during his 12-year stint in the series.

The 44-year-old recently has spent the past four seasons with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing where he picked up three wins, the last of which was the 2020 Indy 500.

“I am extremely excited that we were able to work out a deal with Dale, Rick and everyone at Dale Coyne Racing,” said Sato.

“With Honda an integral part of Dale Coyne Racing, it seemed like a great fit. The team has proven year after year that they are very competitive on all types of circuits.

“Particularly the speed that team has shown in recent years at the Indy 500 were very impressive. I am really looking forward to working with my new environment and can’t wait to get started.”

Team owners Dale Coyne and Rick Ware are keen to utilise Sato’s wealth of experience and speed to help push the team forward.

“Takuma has shown that he is one of the best drivers to ever race in the NTT IndyCar Series,” added Coyne.

“Winning the famed Indianapolis 500 twice, we look forward to competing with our package of a good car with a great driver in the 500 next year.”

Ware added: “I am excited to have Takuma join the Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Family for 2022. Takuma’s experience within motorsports is extensive, not just in the United States, but around the world.

“With Takuma’s experience, and vast knowledge of the cars, we are really looking forward to stepping up the program and having a successful season, and maybe even add another Indianapolis 500 win to his list of achievements.”

Formula 1 Director of Motorsport Ross Brawn has praised Race Director Michael Masi over his handling of the controversial Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

During the 50-lap event, title contenders Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton clashed on several occasions.

Several radio calls were played out from Masi, Mercedes and Red Bull over the course of the race, notably prior to the second restart, when there was a discussion regarding from where Verstappen should line up on the grid.

Later in the race, Verstappen and Hamilton collided on lap 37 owing partially to a potential miscommunication from race control over how the Dutchman should return the lead to the Mercedes driver after Verstappen again cut Turn 2 to retain the lead.

Brawn outlined his belief that Masi kept a handle on matters through the course of proceedings.

“I’d like to compliment the FIA and Race Director Michael Masi in handling well what was an extremely difficult race,” said Brawn.

“I know some people feel some of the decisions were controversial but I don’t.

“The situation you had with Max and Lewis at the restart when Michael recommended that Max drops behind Esteban and Lewis, was handled well as the alternative was to report him to the stewards and that could have ended up with a time penalty.

“I think Michael dealt with it pragmatically. This type of discussion goes on several times during a race. If a driver gets by someone or defends unfairly, the Race Director will tell the team to correct the position.

“Some people seem to think Michael was doing a deal. He wasn’t doing a deal. It was simple: you accept the decision of the Race Director, with a known outcome, or it gets passed to the Stewards to handle it.

“It was a tricky race and a tricky weekend. We’ve had a lot of challenges here, and I think everyone – the FIA, F1 and the teams – has pulled together to make this event work and it’s been a huge success.”

Reigning Formula E World Champion Nyck de Vries is set to make his IndyCar test debut for Meyer Shank Racing at Sebring International Raceway on December 6.

De Vries has been fulfilling his role as the Silver Arrows’ Formula 1 reserve driver after he clinched the Formula E championship at the season-ending doubleheader in Berlin.

The Dutchman also has also been competing in the World Endurance Championship with Racing Team Nederland and G-Drive in the LMP2 category.

“First off, I would like to thank everyone at Meyer Shank Racing for the opportunity to test with them,” said de Vries.

“MSR is the reigning Indy 500 winner, so it’s an absolute honour to be testing with them. It will be my first time getting to experience any sort of racing and testing in the US. I have been following IndyCar for a while and I’ve always been curious as to what it would be like.

“Racing in the US is really raw and appealing to me so I’m really looking forward to this new experience and seeing where it can take us.”

MSR recently expanded its IndyCar outfit to two full-time cars with four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud who moved across from Team Penske to fill the void left by Jack Harvey.

Despite not having room in the race team, team owner Michael Shank has seen de Vries’ success and is keen to try out new talent.

“Having Nyck come test with us falls in line with the team growing and looking ahead to the future,” added Shank.

“There are no set plans as of now for where we see placing Nyck, but it’s important to always be looking for talent.

“As a team, we’re in the position where we have the ability to now test different drivers and give them the opportunity to be successful over in the States. Nyck has clearly proven his worth in Europe so we are excited to see what he can do in an IndyCar.”

Mercedes Formula E team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne is also set to test on the same day with Arrow McLaren SP as the team is potentially seeking a third entry in 2023.

Formula 1 Director of Motorsport Ross Brawn believes last weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix highlighted the need for the new-for-2022 technical regulations.

The hot conditions, combined with the high altitude nature of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, led to a large field spread, with little in the way of wheel-to-wheel action inside the top 10, as drivers struggled for cooling.

Sergio Perez pursued Lewis Hamilton but was unable to mount a serious challenge while the spread was such that only four other drivers finished on the same lap as victor Max Verstappen.

“I know I’ve said this before,” said Brawn. “But the race was another example of why we need the new technical rules that are coming in next season as it showed how challenging it is for the cars to get close enough to launch an overtake.

“Getting within one or two seconds was as close as most could get. And that’s why we wanted to change the regulations. We want to have cars that can race more closely.”

The current cars in F1 are also heavily reliant on generating downforce, which reduces the performance of the car behind by up to 50 per cent when within one second of a car in front.

The new technical regulations that have been developed by Brawn and former Renault Technical Director Pat Symonds, along with a team of engineers, have the aim of reducing the performance deficit to under 10 per cent.

The new generation of cars will utilise the floor and venturi tunnels to create a modern iteration of ‘ground effect’ aerodynamics to clean up the wake of a leading car.

Speaking after the British Grand Prix, Brawn stated: “We saw lots of occasions where cars that were close on performance struggled to race each other.

“When there is a decent performance difference between the cars, you can overtake in the current formula. But when it’s close, particularly on a close track like Silverstone, you can’t.

“We are sure the new car will enable more wheel-to-wheel racing and that is what we want for our fans.”

Former Formula 1 driver Nico Hulkenberg says he was left impressed by the physical and professional nature of IndyCar his maiden test with Arrow McLaren SP.

Hulkenberg was part of a five-driver test at Barber Motorsports Park on Monday, in which 2012 IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay tested with his former ECR team, while 2021 IndyLights Champion Kyle Kirkwood was also in action.

Hulkenberg’s test was an evaluation run but McLaren CEO Zak Brown has outlined that he is ‘towards the top’ of the team’s list of drivers for a potential third car for 2023.

Despite being out of a race car since last October’s Eifel Grand Prix, the 34-year-old quickly acclimatised to his new surroundings, completing over 100 laps, ending the day a second slower than the fastest time set by Indy Lights runner-up David Malukas in the No.18 Dale Coyne-Honda.

“It took definitely the morning,” Hulkenberg told RACER. “There was some other stuff here such as with the aeroscreen, there was not much air coming in and I had trouble with that in the morning, so it was a little bit difficult and tricky to feel immediately very happy in the car from a physical point of view.

“I definitely need to hit the gym! I can confirm that these are steering monsters! Wow. It’s always different when you experience it yourself, but the steering loads are pretty impressive, very heavy.

“With these cars, the G-forces are still there, obviously not as extreme as F1 but still there is G going on, and the steering loads combined with that make it a very physical car.”

While noticing the drastic differences on-track between F1 and IndyCar, Hulkenberg was also left impressed by the similarities off the track.

“It’s been a year since I’ve been in a race car,” he added. “So first of all that was quite nice again. Obviously quite different from a Formula 1 car, just the whole sensation, the experience, the sound, the seating position – everything is different.

“So I had to get my head around that, but I think it was a good and successful day from my point of view, and I’m happy to have had the opportunity here today. It was great fun.”

“Working with the team was good,” he said. “Very professional. Pretty F1-style, I would say. Obviously, it’s different out here over by the pit wall and stuff, but in terms of how they work and what you talk about and everything, it’s very similar to Formula 1.”

Ex-Formula 1 driver Nico Hulkenberg is “towards the top of the list” of candidates for an IndyCar drive with Arrow McLaren SP in a potential third-car in 2023, according to CEO Zak Brown.

The German currently serves as a reserve driver for Aston Martin but is looking to find a full-time race seat once again and is keen on trying out IndyCar.

He has not raced full-time since departing Renault’s Formula 1 team at the end of 2019.

Hulkenberg is currently scheduled to get his first taste of IndyCar machinery with AMSP at Barber Motorsport Park on October 25.

Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist are already confirmed for the two seats in 2022, but AMSP will field a third car at the Indianapolis 500 and other potential races with an eye for a third full-time entry in 2023.

“We’re testing Nico on Monday,” said Brown. “I think IndyCar rewards aggressive drivers, I consider Nico to be a driver who gets up on the wheel, as they say, an American term.

“Very excited to see him, I think he’ll enjoy it, Fernando [Alonso] enjoyed IndyCar, Marcus Ericsson’s enjoyed IndyCar.

“We definitely won’t run a third full-time car next year, we will run a car at Indianapolis and we intend to run a car at some point later in the year in anticipation of a full-time program for a third [car] in 2023.

“Nico wants to see what IndyCar is about, we’ll see how Nico gets on, that’ll be part of the process, once we pull the trigger on that third car who might be in that car and Nico’s right towards the top of that list.”

Brown also revealed his F1 Team Principal Andreas Seidl recommended Hulkenberg after working with the 34-year-old at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Porsche, winning the race in 2015.

“Andreas introduced me to Nico,” he added. “I knew Nico, but they’ve had some good history. Andreas helps when and where he can if I need a favour, so he definitely helped tee up Nico.”

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo believes his victory at the Italian Grand Prix proves the Woking-based outfit is ready to take the next step in returning to fight for the Formula 1 World Championship.

Ricciardo put in a commanding performance to lead home team-mate Lando Norris at Monza last month to end McLaren’s nine-year wait for a win.

It came as part of McLaren’s recovery, having returned to the podium in 2019 after a prolonged absence, following its difficult phase with Honda.

Speaking on the official F1 podcast Beyond The Grid, he said: “What [the win] did for the team is powerful because the team has been on this trajectory, they’ve had podiums but to get the win, let’s say confirms a lot of belief that the team have in themselves to get it done.

“Even going to the mechanics, we had the fastest pit stop of that race in Monza, to do that when the team is not notoriously known for the fastest pit stops, so to execute that in probably the highest pressure pit stop of the year, that is what I took from that weekend ‘we’ve got a group of winners here’ and that makes me excited.

“Truth is, Monza proved everything because it’s the win, but it’s everything that happened around that, that showed no one cracked and that’s really important.”

Ricciardo is also excited by the sweeping shift in the technical regulations in 2022 and sees it as an opportunity for McLaren to move closer to the front of the competitive order.

“It’s exciting for the whole sport,” he added. “For us at McLaren certainly see it as another opportunity to get closer again.

“The team has been on an awesome trajectory, I’ve certainly seen and been a part of that this year, so the plan is to continue on that with these rule changes.

“I think there is a bigger opportunity to let’s say, make a bigger step, Every team has the same opportunity, every team is thinking the same, so it’s not just us. But the thought of it makes me smile.”