Romain Grosjean says his first experience of the new Haas car in the team's simulator was positive as the American team prepares for its first season in F1.
Grosjean will be joined by Esteban Gutierrez at Haas this year, with the car set to make its public debut on the opening day of the first test on February 22. Grosjean has already tried the car in virtual reality and said his initial impression was good.
"A simulator is always just a guide, but I think the car's baseline appears to be good," he told L'Equipe. "We now know that the simulator corresponds to the wind tunnel, but the differences with what we find in reality are sometimes huge. At Lotus, for example, the car changed dramatically between track and simulator."
Grosjean said the team was able to work on the basics ahead of its first test.
"The sensations were quite good, even if at first it was necessary to solve lots of small technical problems, such as the throttle response, energy recovery during braking, etc. The morning was mainly devoted to this.
"But once everything was sorted, it was possible in the afternoon to drive well. This allowed us to work on primary settings of the car such as the brakes, throttle response, differential and how different ride heights impact the aero and how that compares to the calculations in the wind tunnel."