1/43 Model Review: 2019 Haas VF-19 (Minichamps)

Haas have been riding high after a successful 2018 campaign and there were signs of genuine pace that could have seen them be contenders for fourth place. With the F1 Netflix documentary, Haas were as popular as ever. However the team announced a deal with Rich Energy as the team's lead sponsors, which was met with more than a raised eyebrow of suspicion, lost a court case over copying another company's stag log and culminated in a social media mess around the time of the British Grand Prix, saying they would stop their sponsorship on account of the team's poor performance that lead to William Storey leaving the company he founded and an apparent rebrand. Yesterday it was announced they have finally gone their separate ways, good news for Haas. On the track, the team managed some strong qualifying performances, but their race pace was nothing short of a disaster, with the cars often slipping backwards as they struggle to switch the tyres on. The team currently lie in 9th place, just ahead of strugglers, Williams. Whilst Magnussen has been solid enough, but the team-mates had a spate of on-track battles that more resembled dodgems. Grosjean also insisted the upgrade packages made the car worse, with him running a few races with the Melbourne spec car mid-season. All in all, it's been a year to forget for the team, which is a shame, because there is potential for much more for this small team.

Minichamps 417190008

Minichamps 417190020

I was a bit disappointed with the Haas livery when it first came out at the launch, looking like a knock off Lotus from the 80's and early 2010's. However, the livery was tweaked, and before Rich Energy lost the rights to the logo, it looked pretty cool on the engine cover fin. I much prefer it to the greys of the previous years. Around the black cockpit, you can actually see flashes of the driver's helmets, if only they more distinguishing colours. I'm a little impartial to black cars, they have a certain simplicity mixed with elegance about them, but I suppose it hides the parts you don't like, like the thumb nose, the overly complicated bargeboards and the halo.

Anyway, the model is another beauty from Minichamps, this one in resin. There's lovely detail on the bargeboards, and on the rear of the engine cover and the rear wing attachments, and the cockpit is nicely done with the wide positioned mirrors. Even the front wheel rims are beautifully recreated in such lovely detail, the pitot tube has received effort in detailing and it's just a lovely model.

It's always difficult to see the rear end of the car, the diffuser and rear suspension, but these are all accurately modelled by Minichamps. Minichamps continue to push the detail in their modelling and their models are getting better and better, as things do with competition from Spark. Sadly it means a rise in prices, to a level where I'm struggling to collect all the cars from a season. However, these 2019 models are awesome.
Score:8/10

Race Specific Editions

Minichamps 417190608

I've written a seperate review for this model here