AUSTIN, TX — This weekend’s United States Grand Prix is an important race for Haas, the only American team on the Formula One grid.

The team marked the second of its three home races this year by adding a stars and stripes design to its F1 livery. Drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg will race in American-themed race suits and helmets, and the team has adopted the opening line of the U.S. Constitution, “We the People,” as its tagline for the weekend.

But there are more significant changes to the Haas VF-23 car than the color scheme: a number of car upgrades.

“It’s a big upgrade,” said Günther Steiner, Haas’s team principal. “But it’s not like a new car.”

Haas overhauled the majority of the bodywork on the car, including the floor, sidepods,  cooling louvres, front brake ducts and the engine cover and ‘coke bottle’ area at the rear of the car,

The team teased the package in Singapore last month when it first confirmed the plan to introduce the upgrades in Austin. Although Haas hoped to reverse its on-track struggles — the team has scored one point in eight races — the primary motivation was to change the philosophy of the car.

When the new technical regulations debuted in 2022, there were three main concepts around the sidepods led by Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari. Over time, the field converged towards Red Bull’s ‘downwash’ concept, with both Mercedes and Ferrari making the switch earlier in the season. It left Haas as the only team not running the Red Bull-led design philosophy.

That put a ceiling on the performance Haas could gain through in-season upgrades. No matter what it did or what parts it altered, the team could not properly remedy its tire management woes which were most acute when running in the pack. It meant the strong qualifying pace of the car, which led Hülkenberg to P2 in Canada qualifying and Magnussen to fourth in Miami, would often be undone on Sunday as they slipped back, unable to keep up with the competition. A change was needed.

“It’s been a tough year in terms of just finding performance,” Magnussen said. “The guys have been really struggling this year to make gains on the car we’ve had. I think this upgrade is an exciting one, because it’s very different.”

By going down the Red Bull route, Haas hopes it will be able to unlock more performance that can help in the tight lower midfield battle against Williams, Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri, the quarter covered by 18 points. Haas slipped to ninth in Qatar behind Alfa Romeo. Each position in the constructors’ is worth about $12-15 million, making it an important fight for the smaller teams.

But the package is more about the long-term future of Haas’s development, particularly for 2024. Instead of waiting until the new car to make the change, Steiner wanted to get ahead of the game.

“Over the next five races, we’ll learn something for next year which can be useful by developing the ’24 car aerodynamics,” Steiner explained. “Instead of waiting until February and getting maybe a bad surprise, you try to do it now.”

Although the major upgrade may not provide an immediate boost in performance, Magnussen and Hülkenberg will at least be able to get an understanding of what changes it makes to the car’s characteristics ahead of next year – both were confirmed to return with Haas in August — and if it improves the core tire weakness.

“The upgrade is aimed to help the speed and the performance, and address the consistency and the tire wear,” Hülkenberg said. “But it’s also mainly for the future. Where do we go with this car? We need direction and we need a road.”

Any new F1 car update takes time to dial in and find the right setup requirements. But with just a single hour of practice in Austin this weekend under the sprint format, that challenge is even tougher for Haas.

Hülkenberg said it was “very challenging” and “not ideal” to be debuting the update package on a sprint weekend, but Steiner pointed out there were few remaining opportunities.

“If you do it in Mexico, then it’s the altitude that isn’t good,” he said. “If you do it in Brazil, it’s again a sprint. So we do it, and we see what we have got.

“Sometimes you just have to do something instead of sitting on the fence all the time and finding a good reason not to do something.”

The single practice offered an encouraging first sign. Magnussen placed fifth, finishing only half a second off Max Verstappen’s benchmark time, while Hülkenberg ended the session in ninth place.

Even if that form can’t sustain through the weekend, Steiner felt confident the long-awaited upgrade package would galvanize the Haas team after a tricky season where points have been hard to come by.

“The team for sure is pumped up,” he said. “They’re really happy to do something new. A good race team wants something to move forward.”

(Lead image: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)