Haas Formula: An experienced driver, an American driver, and limited costs

Yesterday, a press conference was held in Kannapolis, North Carolina, by Gene Haas to outline the main aspects of his Formula 1 team project. While everything still needs to be built, the American businessman does not want to rush or waste money. Here are the various points discussed during this meeting with the media.

You can find the first part of this conference in this article.

Staff: A short-list established

Regarding the choice of the men who will make up Haas Formula, it’s Günther Steiner, former technical director of Jaguar and then Red Bull, who explains the approach: « The real work starts now. We need to hire people, we must decide whether we start in 2015 or 2016, and we need to find our [engine] partner. »

Some people have been contacted, but he does not wish to elaborate on their names: « And, aside from that, the main focus will be – not just the technicians – the logisticians. Therefore, it takes a bit of time to get there, but we have already spoken to people. I cannot say who is on the short-list, we are in contact with people. »

The ideal: an experienced driver and a young American

On the drivers’ side, Gene Haas would like to rely on a driver who is knowledgeable about current F1 technology: « I think we would want to have an experienced Formula 1 driver, someone familiar with the current engine regulations: they have changed a lot since last year. »

« We would need someone with experience, a current Formula 1 driver who would become available in the next 6 to 12 months and maybe, let’s say, a younger driver with a lot of potential, hopefully an American, » he said. « That would be the ideal situation. »

However, he explains that nothing is set in stone: « But for now, we haven’t really made a selection. We’ve had a few people contact us and send in applications. »

**Budget: Spend your money « wisely »**

Regarding the committed funds, for the moment, Haas cannot quantify everything but he believes that the new F1 will not result in astronomical expenses: « We have a budget, there are many unknowns in it. We have budgets for what the engine blocks will cost and these figures are well known. »

« I think a large part of the exponential increase in costs is perhaps something that is a thing of the past. If you look back 5 or 10 years, when the rules allowed everything, with exotic aero packages and exotic wind tunnels, it was those things that drove up costs, and then with the recession in 2008, things changed, » he explains.

The current context is therefore conducive to its arrival in the premier discipline: « In fact, the rules have become much more favorable. [Before] there were maybe eight different engine manufacturers, each manufacturer made them for Formula 1. Without a doubt, they spent 200 or 300 million dollars just to build an engine for a single car. »

He clearly wants to rely on the rules that favor economies and reliability to make his team competitive: « Today, there are three engine manufacturers, and they must make reliable engines. We are going to take advantage of these rules. We will rely as much as possible on partners. Our job is not to reinvent the wheel. Our job is to race cars and win races. »

If he admits it won’t be done without spending money, he believes that doing things well efficiently will be possible: « I don’t have the exact numbers, but the numbers I’ve seen are reasonable. […] Yes, it’s expensive, but I think we’re going to have our own way of doing things. »

« Too many teams, I think, went there and wasted money. We are not going to do that, we are not going to waste money on that, » he assures. « I think that Günther and I both understand racing. We understand that basic businessmen enter this business simply by saying, “Well, I just want the best.” The best does not always mean the best for him, it means the best for the guy who provides it and the money he can rake in. »

« We are not going to be stupid, we are going to spend our money wisely. We will do this with an American flair for design and efficiency, and that’s how we are going to control our costs. »

To demonstrate his capabilities and pragmatism, he cites his CNC machine tool manufacturing company that generates nearly a billion in revenue annually: « We are not going to be a European-managed team; we are going to be an American-managed team, and we are going to do it in the way we think is most effective. For example, I would like to highlight the fact that Haas Automation builds machines in California, the state with the highest taxes in the United States, and we do it in a place where no one thought we could build machines efficiently, and we do it. So, we have a precedent for producing a good product at a very reasonable cost, and I hope I can establish the same parameters to work in Formula 1. »

He is keen to prove the detractors of this model wrong: « Many say it can’t be done. As I say, we do things all the time that other people claim are impossible. I am not afraid of this and I am eager to do it; it is one of the greatest challenges to try to run an elite team without spending billions of dollars. »