Haas Sunday test blocked; team must make up time each night

Haas has been denied the chance to test on Sunday morning in order to compensate for a freight delay out of its hands, instead having to run long each night in Bahrain.

Formula 1-controlled freight movements for Haas ran into trouble this week due to an aircraft issue, meaning plenty of the team’s equipment and car did not reach the Bahrain International Circuit until last night. As a result, the team was unable to build the car in time for the start of running and could only begin its test on Thursday afternoon, with the FIA stating Haas would be allowed to run on Sunday morning instead to ensure it didn’t miss out due to issues outside of its control.

However, such a concession breaks a regulation that states a test should take place over three consecutive days, and so requires eight of the 10 teams to approve the change. Three teams rejected the plan -- McLaren the only one to inform Haas of its stance -- with Haas only finding out nine minutes before the start of its running.

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The team has been given the alternative option of making up the lost four hours in the evening across each of the three days of testing, after the official finish of 7 p.m. local time. That would mean the regulation about three consecutive days is still adhered to, and so doesn’t require the same approval from teams.

“We were denied the testing on Sunday,” Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said. “So we can make up four hours of testing but we need to make it up at the end of the day -- we are not allowed to run on Sunday. We can run an hour later or four hours… In total four hours later, over the three days, four hours in the evening.”