[ Haas VF-18 ] text by tw (February 16, 2018)

The first machine in the 2018 F1 new machine appeared became Haas.
[VF-18] was released on February 15, 2018.
For a picture of this new car, see F1 Tushin.

Haas is a technical partnership relationship with Ferrari.
This year 's machine [VF - 18] also receives Ferrari' s power unit, gearbox, and some other parts.

However, the chassis apparently is not a Haas team, it seems that Dallara of Italian racing constructor is designing or manufacturing.
This detailed circumstance is not clear to us.

And this season "trick suspension" was banned.
In this system, the connection point on the upright side of the front suspension push rod is laid out to the inward side of the kingpin (a straight line connecting the upper arm and the lower arm pivot of the lower arm).
In this manner, when the steering wheel is largely steered, it acts to lower the front ride height from the positional relationship with the short push rod.
Depending on the setting of the upright and the push rod, the roll angle during steering can also be adjusted.

In this system, FIA judged that "It clearly has an effect on aerodynamic performance during steering."
FIA banned the trick suspension from this season because "aerodynamic parts should not move".

As a result, if the connection point on the upright side of the push rod is set to the same position as the kingpin, the steering can be operated with lower steering force.
It's "ecology" because it requires less oil pressure for power assist steering.
Steering in the age of the trick suspension was forced to stroke the front suspension, so power steering was essential and could not be steered solely by human force alone.

The change in regulation of bodywork is the reduction of the area of the shark fin and the prohibition of the T wing.

The tip of the front nose is on the trend line, and there is a cob of purpose to clear the regulation in the center.
It is designed to supply as much airflow as possible from the side of the bump to the bottom of the car body.

There are three splitters on the underside of the front wing. It has a straight shape toward the back as it is trendy.

On the lower part of the brake duct of the front wheel, rectifying parts curved downward can be seen.

Canards on the monocoque side were made shorter than last year.
It probably changed the tuning to the reduction of the air resistance rather than the induction effect to the lower part of the car body.

The rear view mirror moved slightly to the left and right a little.
Last year from F1, it is the trend to arrange the stay shape of the mirror to prepare the wake of the front wing, but [VF - 18] can not see the trace of the device in particular.

The side vanes at the both ends of the front side of the side pod have a plurality of slits cut in the horizontal direction.

The front side of the side pod upper side is black and dark and I do not know well, apparently it is the same type as last year's Ferrari.
This has the effect of alleviating the lift which conventionally occurred in the front part of the side pod upper surface.

The side pod top is also as trend. The upper surface is subducting backward and to the left and right, leading to low air flow and high pressure air flow.

The undercut on the side pod side is daring and the bottom is narrow all the way from the front to the rear.
This will provide a large and fast airflow to the rear diffuser, which will enhance the aerodynamic efficiency.
This contributes to the downforce generated at the bottom of the car body, so the effect of this undercut should be great.

The engine air intake of the induction pod was similar to Mercedes and became somewhat oblong elliptical shape.
This intake should be used not only for the intake of the engine but also for cooling the hybrid system.
As another reason for increasing the size of the intake, it is conceivable that the introduction of halo disturbs the airflow and the filling efficiency of the intake decreases.

The impression is that the machine is black and the photograph is dark afterwards and I do not know details until I can acquire a running photograph.

Haas entered F1 from 2016, is in the 2016 and 2017 year 8th place in the Constracoons ranking.
[VF-18] seems to have no special item at the moment.
It seems to be a machine that still has sophisticated parts yet, will it be a position up this season?
Driver is a combination of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen.

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