Formula 1: Haas launch new car for 2017 season

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HaasImage source, Haas
Image caption,

Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen will drive for Haas in the 2017 season

Haas have launched their new car for the 2017 season ahead of pre-season testing in Barcelona.

The VF-17 follows the team's debut, the VF-16, which took Haas to an eighth-place finish in their maiden season.

It features many of the elements seen on other cars following new regulations aimed at making the cars faster and more demanding.

"It is very different from last year's car," said team principal Guenther Steiner.

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"You always try to make a faster car, which is normally a lighter car. Now we can put on more ballast and get better weight distribution. The aero is completely new, as are the tyres, so we needed to have some built-in adjustability.

"Aesthetically, the car has a more aggressive look. It's lighter and more aerodynamically efficient. Everything we learned from our first car has been applied to our new car."

Kevin Magnussen will partner Romain Grosjean after leaving Renault in November.

Grosjean tweeted:, external "Looking sharp and fast, isn't it?"

The VF17 will make its track debut on Monday for the first day of pre-season testing at Circuit de Barcelona - Catalunya.

Analysis

BBC Sport chief F1 writer Andrew Benson

The key issue for Haas in 2017 is not to fall prey to 'second season syndrome'.

Their debut in 2016 was impressive in parts - but so it should have been with a car that was effectively a mildly tweaked Ferrari.

A sophomore year, when a new team races a car they had to design while competing with their first one, is traditionally much more difficult.

Haas' business plan is to buy as many parts off the shelf from Ferrari as possible - which basically means everything bar the monocoque and aerodynamic surfaces. So, unsurprisingly, Ferrari influences are visible again.

In truth, a consolidation of last year's eighth place in the championship would be a decent effort.

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