27/10/2016
NEWS STORY
As Brembo continues its investigation into Gutierrez' Austin failure, Haas changes brake material.
Over the course of the 2016 season, brake issues have been a factor in five of Haas' DNFs as well as problems during practice sessions and qualifying.
As Brembo continues its investigation into the issue which caused Esteban Gutierrez to retire from last weekend's United States Grand Prix, and with Haas considering changing supplier entirely, the American team is to try an alternative brake material in Mexico this weekend.
As well as modifications to its brakes, the team will try a new carbon material from Brembo.
"We have some different parts coming," team boss Guenther Steiner told reporters, "but we still need to see how it works.
"We did the utmost possible to make sure it doesn't happen again, and we hope to get it working," he continued. "So we will also be using a different material here, a different specification from Brembo.
"We need to test it to see if the drivers are happy with it," he admitted. "But I think we'll keep this one as it seems to be avoiding the problem we have in Austin, and that is our main aim. I'm confident we'll find a solution for Brembo tomorrow, to overcome the problem until the end of the year.
"We have done as we have been told," he continued, "so if there is somewhere in our process, or something is wrong with it, we have to find out. We have given our process to Brembo to see if this is wrong. Brembo is sending some more people down this weekend to make sure that we are not having the problem anymore."
The Italian admitted that if this new solution doesn't work the team faces a dilemma.
"Brake material is very complex," he said, "it isn't easy. If you change to another material, it takes a lot of lead time because it takes a long time to make. And next year, the brake material will be different because of the wider tyres. It will be difficult to do anything for this year."
Check out our Thursday gallery from Mexico City, here.