The Haas team has confirmed that they will miss day one in Bahrain as they continue to deal with a cargo delay in the UK.
The team has met a number of hurdles in the run-up to the 2022 season start, including only being able to complete 160 laps at the Barcelona shakedown due to reliability issues, then on the final day, having to strip the branding of its main sponsor – Uralkali – from the VF-22 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Since then, the team also opted to drop their Russian driver, Nikita Mazepin, for a number of reasons including his oligarch father’s close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, this latest issue is an unavoidable one as the team’s spare parts remain at the airport in Doncaster awaiting shipment to Bahrain – that’s according to a report by Auto Motor und Sport.
There was reportedly an issue with one of the organised transport planes which was on its way to London, and instead was grounded in Istanbul with “technical problems”.
“Now the US racing team is looking for replacement solutions, which is a gamble given the tense situation in cargo air traffic,” Auto Motor und Sport add.
“The rest of the teams expect the bulk of their equipment to arrive in Bahrain today [March 7].”
Team boss Guenther Steiner, now says there is a real chance that Haas will be forced to “write off” the first day of the testing.
“We can probably write off the first day of testing,” he told Auto Motor und Sport.
“All the other teams have a two-day head start in their preparations.”
Tyres will hit the tarmac in Bahrain on March 10 as fans will finally get a true glimpse into each team’s potential this season.
