Ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Haas and McLaren have confirmed that some replacements will need to be made to their cars. The news comes following their massive accident in Australia, which brought out the red flag and made international headlines.
In the preview leading up to the race weekend in Bahrain, the Team Principal of the Haas F1 Team has revealed that they will be using a spare chassis because the chassis from the accident has been shipped back to the team’s factory in Europe. Guenther Steiner, the Team Principal, said:
“Some of the parts, for example the chassis, were sent back to Europe to be checked and fixed because we can’t do it onsite in Bahrain. We have enough spare parts to build up another chassis, so we will use that. Then the chassis that is repaired will be sent to Bahrain via air to serve as our spare.”
Although there is a lot of work for the team mechanics and engineers to do to get Esteban Gutiérrez’s car ready for the Bahrain Grand Prix, Steiner is sure that it is “doable”. He was also sure that the decrease in the number of spare parts available to the team this upcoming weekend was no cause for concern. “Our spare quantity is down, but we have enough to get going again, so we will just keep on working,” he explained.
The Haas F1 Team wasn’t the only team left with a lot to rebuild from the accident; McLaren will also be running a replacement component in Bahrain. The team was able to confirm earlier in the week that they require a new power unit, as a result of heavy damage sustained from the accident. These means that the team will only have four out of their five power units for the season, although the damaged power unit has been shipped to Honda for investigation and to see which components can be recovered.
The team has also revealed that Fernando Alonso will be running a new seat for Bahrain because of damage. Original reports had suggested that the seat had been broken in half, but recent corrections show that the seat was only cracked. Nevertheless, the team will need to fit a replacement seat for Bahrain.
Although there was a lot of damage to both cars, modern Formula One safety ensured that there was no damage to either driver. Both drivers will be racing at the Sakhir Grand Prix Circuit for the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix on the weekend of April 3.
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Weekend Summary: 2016 Australian Grand Prix
