Haas F1 Team does not need to buy Marussia
Haas F1 Team continues its preparations ahead of its entry into the world of Formula 1 in 2016. From the design of the future car to the relationships with Marussia and Ferrari, Günther Steiner, the team principal, discussed numerous topics with Motorsport.com.
The future Formula 1 team, Haas F1 Team, recently acquired the former Marussia Banbury factory in England in order not to rely solely on its North American ties. This purchase leads Günther Steiner to be optimistic about the team’s organization: « Everything is going according to plan. We will soon move into the building. »
Günther Steiner confirmed that the design of the 2016 car should begin very soon. To do this, Haas will have to rely on its engine supplier and partner, Ferrari. « We work very closely with Ferrari. We have to. They know what they’re doing, and we want to consolidate our knowledge. They are good partners. We will start designing the car soon. (…) There is no doubt: we will be on the grid in 2016. »
A few days after Bernie Ecclestone, the team principal then denied the recent rumors of a Marussia takeover by Haas: « We are buying the building, we might buy some testing equipment they own, but nothing substantial. We haven’t bought any patents. There have been rumors in the press saying that we bought the intellectual property of their 2015 car. That is not true. We are developing our own car ».
Will Haas take advantage of a whole year without competition to test its 2016 car as early as 2015? This is not on the agenda according to Steiner: « We will not have a car before everyone else. We don’t want to. It makes no sense. You build a car that is obsolete before you’ve even finished it. You have to build a car as late as possible to allow for maximum development beforehand. If we build a car just to test it, we spend a lot of money and time, but for something useless, because you could develop the car in the same time. So we will test our car in January 2016, like everyone else. »
Regarding the pair of drivers he might hire, Steiner was not very forthcoming. The names of Adrian Sutil and Raffaele Marciello (Ferrari test driver, who will race in GP2 this year) have surfaced. However, the team principal did not want to comment on these rumors, arguing that there were no serious discussions and that the car needs to be finished before knowing who will drive it. And we don’t know, he added, who will be on the market in four months. There is no urgency for us to decide on our drivers.
What will Haas’s ambitions be for their first season in Formula 1? It’s difficult to anticipate your future performances, continued Steiner, because you don’t know how strong the competition will be. Once again, we want to be respected. We won’t get in anyone’s way.
Günther Steiner currently spends a third of his time in Europe. He will be in Jerez for the pre-season testing that starts next Sunday. Haas F1 currently has about fifty employees and is expected to announce its lead designer very soon. A year of work awaits him, with the ambition not to experience the same setbacks as Marussia, Caterham, and HRT in their time.
