Haas: Sunday F1 test would be a fairer solution after freight delay

A technical issue with a plane in Turkey that was bringing Haas’s freight to Bahrain for the second test meant its cargo did not arrive until Tuesday evening.

It forced Haas to miss the opening morning of running in Bahrain on Thursday. The Haas VF-22 car only got out on-track yesterday afternoon, leaving the team on the back foot.

The team asked if it would be able to complete an extra half-day of running in Bahrain on Sunday to make up for the lost time, only for a handful of teams to reject the plan.

Haas will instead have to make up for the four hours lost on Thursday by doing extra running on both Friday and Saturday.

On Friday, Kevin Magnussen will complete one additional hour after the end of the official session at 7pm. He will then complete another hour through the lunch break on Saturday, before Mick Schumacher then does two extra hours at the end of the day.

But Haas F1 chief Steiner was unhappy the team had “lost a morning and now we get bits and pieces”, believing it was unfair it had to complete the majority of additional running on top of the current schedule.

“We never asked to have a night session or anything like this, we just asked for Sunday morning, which would make up for the Thursday morning we lost,” Steiner said.

“The time I think would have been a much fairer and better solution for everybody. Now some people complain that we can run at night and others cannot, because the race is at night.

“We will get by, as we always do. I don’t want to be here and cry, because I don’t cry. But I think some people should think before they make comments about fairness.”

Steiner believes the deal agreed with other teams to make up for its lost running is unfair

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

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