JANUARY 9, 2016

Haas F1 car passes FIA crash tests

Haas, F1's new Ferrari-linked American team, is on track to make its testing debut in February.

Haas, F1's new Ferrari-linked American team, is on track to make its testing debut in February.

The team, based in North Carolina and also the old Marussia facility in Banbury (UK), announced late on Friday that its car has passed the mandatory FIA crash tests.

"Next up: testing at Circuit de Catalunya," Haas F1 Team added on Twitter.

Team boss Gunther Steiner had told the British broadcaster Sky just before Christmas: "Everything seems to come together.

"Our pit equipment is almost all here now and we've done a garage check so when we set up in Barcelona we will be right.

"We will do the crash test at the beginning of January and then start to put one together to get ready for February 22 in Barcelona," he added.

Steiner said the car, whose livery colours are yet to be announced, will then be launched in Barcelona as the first group test kicks off.

"We have no spare time to do anything before so we will roll it out hopefully the day before the testing starts on the Sunday," he announced.

(GMM)