Motor racing-Haas F1 revert to old colours with car that has to deliver

By Alan Baldwin

LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - U.S.-owned Haas became the first Formula One team to offer a glimpse of their 2020 car on Thursday with a return to their old grey, red and black colours after a difficult season in black and gold.

Digital renderings were released on the team's social media channels and website.

"The VF-20 has to deliver where our previous car didn’t," said team principal Guenther Steiner.

"Last year was definitely a set-back, one I would never have asked for, but you learn from such situations -- we all have."

The physical unveiling will be in the pitlane shortly before the start of pre-season testing at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on Feb. 19 with Frenchman Romain Grosjean and Danish driver Kevin Magnussen.

Ferrari-powered Haas finished last season ninth out of 10 teams, with only 28 points from 21 races.

After a strong start to the campaign, performance stalled as the team failed to turn qualifying speed into race pace and get performance out of the tyres.

Grosjean even reverted to the original Melbourne aerodynamic package on his car mid-season to try and get to grips with the problems after an upgrade failed to deliver the expected improvements.

"Frankly, I’m hoping the VF-20 will return us to the kind of form we ran in 2018 when we finished fifth in the constructors’ championship. 2019 was a tough season to endure," commented owner Gene Haas.

"We’ve been through a real education process, one that comes to all Formula One teams at some stage.

"I’m trusting we’ve learned from those lessons and have applied that knowledge into making the VF-20 a more competitive entry."

The team changed their livery to black and gold last year to reflect an ill-fated title sponsorship and the branding of little-known drinks company Rich Energy. That deal was terminated after 17 races.

The season starts in Australia on March 15. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)