The Haas Formula One team could miss the first day of this week’s preseason test after the cargo plane due to deliver its freight to Bahrain was delayed.
As first reported by German publication Auto Motor und Sport (AMuS), the plane which was meant to arrive in the UK on Monday to transport its cars and spare parts to Bahrain was grounded in Istanbul due to technical issues.
Haas, who have confirmed the freight delay, is now looking at an alternative route. The three-day test in Bahrain is set to start on Thursday.
Most of F1’s teams had freight arriving at the Bahrain International Circuit on Monday, while Haas’ was still stuck at the UK’s Doncaster Airport.
Bahrain then will host the opening race of the season on March 20.
The delay continues what has been a challenging period of time off track for Haas.
Last week the team cut ties with Russian driver Nikita Mazepin and his father’s company Uralkali following Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.
The team is yet to confirm a full-time replacement for Mazepin, although Gene Haas said test driver Pietro Fittipaldi will feature at some point in Bahrain.
Haas took the Uralkali colours off the car during F1’s first preseason test and ran a plain white livery. The team is due to run a tweaked livery for the Bahrain test but it remains unclear whether this will be the team’s colour scheme for the whole season.
In the event Haas missed all of Thursday’s running, AMuS suggests Haas might be able to run on another day on the grounds of force majeure.