Team boss Gunther Steiner says Haas will not develop its 2021 car.
"Our goal is to get back to where we were in 2018," he told the German broadcaster n-tv.
Haas has replaced both Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean with rookies Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin for the new season.
He doubts the move will backfire on the small American outfit.
"If they fight without damaging the team, I have no problem with that," said Steiner.
But they will be fighting with a car that will not be developed throughout the season, he warned.
"It will be a year of transition," said Steiner. "From next week, we will only work in the wind tunnel for 2022. If everything doesn't go wrong, we won't do anything with the 2021 car."
Nonetheless, he hopes Haas will not finish dead-last this year.
"It would be ideal to leave Alfa Romeo and Williams behind us. But that will be difficult. It will be a fight like last year," said Steiner.
"Our engine will certainly be better, Alfa has that too but maybe we can catch up with Williams. Otherwise there is not much more that is possible at the moment because we were just too far away last year," he added.
"For me it would be a success if at the end of the year we have two drivers who have learned a lot and are ready for 2022 so that we won't make any more mistakes."
