In a sport completely dominated by European manufacturers and European drivers, Haas F1 is a beacon of hope for a World Championship to return to American soil. From their headquarters in Kannapolis, Haas is the latest team to officially join Formula 1. While there are talks about Andretti possibly bidding to enter Formula 1, this may take years to come to pass, leaving Haas as the only American Formula 1 team on the grid.
As the brainchild of both Guenther Steiner and Gene Haas, they made a successful bid to purchase Marussia F1 during the 2014 season. Haas managed to purchase their factory in Banbury as well during the auctioning of their assets. To learn more about the only American Formula 1 team, here are 10 fast facts about Haas:
10 Based In The US And UK
Haas managed to enter Formula 1 by purchasing the Marussia F1 team in 2014. Due to the team suffering financial losses, they decided to auction off their assets later in the year. Haas was able to purchase both the team and factory in Banbury for around $20 million.
While this enabled them to build their cars in the United Kingdom, the entire race team is still based in America. With headquarters in North Carolina, the Kannapolis-based team is situated alongside the Stewart-Haas Racing team. While the two teams are separate, they both share a common shareholder in Gene Haas.
9 As Much Ferrari As Possible
When Gene Haas decided to expand his racing investments into Formula 1, he was famously quoted saying that he would like to use as many Ferrari parts as he possibly could. This was said due to the impressive performances of Ferrari in 2013, challenging Red Bull right to the end of the season.
Haas entered Formula 1 and signed contracts with separate manufacturers for the chassis and engine. The engine was later procured from Ferrari, annoying many teams in the Paddock. Teams such as Force India and McLaren both protested the relationship between Haas and Ferrari, but were not successful.
8 Guenther Steiner
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Before investing in Formula 1, Gene Haas and his advisor approached Guenther Steiner. As the former technical advisor for Red Bull and team boss of Jaguar, Guenther had the experience and skills needed to create and launch an American F1 team.
After being let go from Red Bull, Steiner moved to the States, where he opened his own carbon fiber manufacturing factory, FiberWorks Composites. Here, Steiner worked closely with NASCAR teams, supplying them with various parts for their cars.
7 Impressive Performances
With Steiner on board, Haas was able to use the limited resources to maximize their results. They started off incredibly well, with Roman Grosjean finishing in the points in the very first race in Australia and the second race in Bahrain as well.
While they finished 8th in the first season, they quickly improved to 5th in the Constructors’ Championship in 2018. The 2018 season was a particularly successful one, collecting 93 points in the 21-race season. This was even more impressive if you take into consideration that they had 2 finishes stripped away due to disqualifications.
6 Rich Energy Scandal
The success of the Haas Formula 1 team allowed them to attract a variety of new sponsors. The most promising of partners being Rich Energy. This deal was estimated to be worth around $70 million and effectively redesigned the look of the entire team.
The sponsor turned out to be less than legitimate, leaving the team with a massive shortfall financially for the year. It was due to this desperation that Haas decided to sell a seat to Russian Oligarch, Dmitry Mazepin. This saw the Russian company Uralkali become the new title sponsor of the team.
5 Drive To Survive Popularity
The Netflix series, “Drive to Survive,” managed to bring Formula 1 into the mainstream media. This did a lot for the sport within the North American market, creating a few new celebrities in the process. While you may think people would flock to the new, young drivers, they flocked to the Haas Team Principal, Guenther Steiner.
Due to his brutally honest commentary and charismatic reactions, fans immediately took a liking to the F1 Principal. This helped Haas grow their brand through the years, completely contrasting its performances on track.
4 Walking Through Fire
As if Haas was not already having a terrible 2020 season, a disastrous crash in Bahrain saw the car of Roman Grosjean lose control and hit the barrier. Not only did it split into two pieces, but the entire car also went up in a ball of flames.
This was one of the most terrifying crashes in modern Formula 1. Despite the horrific crash and intense flames, Roman managed to get up, jump over the barrier and walk to the medical car. This shocked fans around the world as he became known as the man who walked through fire.
3 Mick Schumacher
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The 2020 season was made difficult for all the teams on the grid due to the pandemic. The postponement of races dried up Formula 1’s income and moved everyone into survival mode. Due to this pressure, Gene Haas put it upon Steiner to try and find new sponsors for the 2021 Formula 1 season.
Steiner managed to secure a lucrative new sponsorship agreement with 1 und 1, a German technology company. However, their requirement was that Haas bring on a German driver. This was the perfect opportunity for Haas to go all-out to try and sign Mick Schumacher, son of 7-time World Champion, Michael Schumacher.
2 The 2022 Masterplan
Although Haas brought in new drivers for 2021, Guenther had additional plans for the season. Due to the pandemic, the FIA delayed the implementation of new regulations to the 2022 season. This made the 2021 season incredibly similar to the 2020 season, where Haas only managed to score 3 points.
Instead of spending money developing a car that would be immediately replaced with new regulations, the team decided to scrap all development and focus entirely on the 2022 car. This was seen as a silly plan by many of the other teams, with Haas fighting for 19th and 20th place in every race all season. However, the start of the 2022 season proved how valuable their investment was as they shot back up to the midfield.
1 Dropping Uralkali
While the 2022 season started off well for Haas performance-wise, it was not so great for the team politically. As they signed a long-term deal with Uralkali, the start of the Russian-Ukraine war put the team in a tough place.
This resulted in Haas dropping both the sponsor and Nikita Mazepin from the team. While Uralkali and Mazepin protested fiercely, the decision stood and Kevin Magnussen was brought back to the team in time for the first race.