F1 2024 car launch: Haas car reveal timings, where to watch, and more
The Haas F1 team are set to reveal their 2024 Challenger's livery on Friday, February 2 at 2pm GMT.
This is set to be the second livery reveal for the 2024 season after McLaren released the livery of their MCL38 last month. Haas will also be using digital renders of the car to showcase their livery through images, but the actual car will not be seen for the first time till February 11 in Silverstone. The images of the car will be posted online and on their social media accounts.
Following this, it will be seen on track once more before the pre-season testing in Bahrain. The F1 pre-season testing is scheduled from February 21 to 23, before which all of the remaining nine teams will be revealing their challengers.
This is set to be Haas' first season without Guenther Steiner, who was the former team principal since the inception of the American team in 2016. He was removed from the post due to their disappointing performance in recent seasons. Haas finished at the bottom in 2021 with zero points and dropped back to the bottom again in 2023 (with 12 points).
Ayao Komatsu, formerly the Director of Engineering of the team, replaced Guenther Steiner ahead of the 2024 season. His experience within the team was immense to give him the opportunity.
While the team have gone through some major changes in the crew, their drive lineup will remain the same. Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen will be behind the wheel as the team aim to finish eighth in the upcoming season, as revealed by team principal Komatsu.
Haas aims to finish eighth in the 2024 F1 season
Before dropping to the bottom in the 2023 F1 season, Haas managed to finish eighth with 37 points, ahead of AlphaTauri (now called VCARB) and Williams, in 2022.
Heading into the 2024 F1 season, Ayao Komatsu revealed that the team were aiming for an eighth-place finish because of the slow progress they had last season. Formu1a.uno quoted him as saying:
"It’s 8th place [the target for 2024]. We were in last place in 2023, so we have to beat two other teams. But considering the team’s current position, we don’t have what we need.
"If we are a small team and have a smaller budget than others, and if we don’t have a good structure as a team, there’s no way we can compete…"
Furthermore, he feels that the team will still be at the bottom during the first race of the season in Bahrain because of the developmental decisions taken earlier.
"I think the car we’ll take to Bahrain is still at the bottom. It’s not the aerodynamic team’s fault, but the timing of decisions so far has delayed development. So they didn’t have much time."
Nevertheless, the first glimpse of Haas' livery will be revealed on Friday when the team launche the digital renders online. As mentioned, they are set to be the second team to do so this season following McLaren.