Haas F1 Team Thread

[watka]

Fingers and toes crossed for the long awaited entry of Daihatsu into Formula 1.

[shinji]

Fingers and toes crossed for the long awaited entry of Daihatsu into Formula 1.

Nah man, all about Perodua.

[go_Rubens]

Fingers and toes crossed for the long awaited entry of Daihatsu into Formula 1.

Nah man, all about Perodua.

Nah, I'm going all Panoz...

[Boomstick]

A serious bid... like this one, y'mean?

"Y'all know this team will be a GOOD CHRISTIAN BIBLE-READING TEAM, based in AMERICA for TRUE AMERICANS who vote REPUBLICAN and have FIFTY THOUSAND GUNS, and all y'all know as well IT IS I, DON PENTECOST, THE CHOSEN ONE who will be DEPUTY TEAM PRINCIPAL (because the TRUE TEAM PRINCIPAL will be JESUS), and I will be THE OLDEST FORMULA ONE, A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF THE FORMULA ONE CORPORATION, CHAMPION. I will be SIXTY YEARS OLD and will beat drivers A THIRD OF MY AGE who should still be at BIBLE SCHOOL at that age. As I have GOD ON MY SIDE then nobody will be able to stop me, least of all those LOSERS at FORMULA ONE REJECTS who spend all their time on the INTERNET which is a creation of SATAN and THE DEMOCRATS and COMMIES and LIBRULS and PEOPLE WITHOUT GUNS. Also don't forget to read my book on SELF DEFENCE WITH A KNIFE although in reality y'all should carry a GUN instead like a TRUE AMERICAN. I was definitely NOT IN JAIL when I wrote this book because I am a GOOD CHRISTIAN and GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail. Also OBAMA should be in jail for not being a REPUBLICAN and for being a MUSLIM and a TERRORIST with a name that sounds like OSAMA. ALL Y'ALL HAIL ME, YOUR NEW TRUE AMERICAN BLUE-COLLAR WORKING-CLASS HERO, WHO WILL OPEN A CAN O' TRUE AMERICAN WHOOPASS ON THE PRIVILEGED WORLD OF FORMULA ONE, A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF THE FORMULA ONE CORPORATION."
- a statement by Don Pentecost, 11th December, 2013

So. Epic. My. GOD. Its. Its. Butiful.

[Backmarker]

well, WEC is not only LMP1 and LMP2, but also GT's, who's in there, Chevrolet i think. I'm not sure what others are in there.

In WEC it is just Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche and a privateer Chevrolet run by Larbre Competition. In USCC, there is a Chevrolet works team and the SRT Vipers too.

Aston Martin/Prodrive again, maybe? Though I thought Dave Richards had given up on F1, to be honest.

[FMecha]

Manufacturer teams are so lame. I call MRT - yes, Melrose Racing Team, to nab the 12th team slot!

[TomWazzleshaw]

Manufacturer teams are so lame. I call MRT - yes, Melrose Racing Team, to nab the 12th team slot!

You ruined the big surprise!

[DanielPT]

Fingers and toes crossed for the long awaited entry of Daihatsu into Formula 1.

YES! Obviously they haven't invested in the FRWRS for nothing!

[Shizuka]

Fingers and toes crossed for the long awaited entry of Daihatsu into Formula 1.

Free Midgets for the mechanics then!

[watka]

well, WEC is not only LMP1 and LMP2, but also GT's, who's in there, Chevrolet i think. I'm not sure what others are in there.

In WEC it is just Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche and a privateer Chevrolet run by Larbre Competition. In USCC, there is a Chevrolet works team and the SRT Vipers too.

Aston Martin/Prodrive again, maybe? Though I thought Dave Richards had given up on F1, to be honest.

I think they toned down their efforts massively when it was confirmed that they couldn't enter a customer car.

[Backmarker]

I think they toned down their efforts massively when it was confirmed that they couldn't enter a customer car.

They still tried to buy Honda in 2008, applied for a place for 2010, and tried to buy Renault in 2009.

[go_Rubens]

I think they toned down their efforts massively when it was confirmed that they couldn't enter a customer car.

They still tried to buy Honda in 2008, applied for a place for 2010, and tried to buy Renault in 2009.

That's commitment if I've ever heard of it! I still think Chevrolet is a realistic bet to enter, which brings me to an idea I had in March (well, EDT), a mere few days after I joined:

http://www.f1rejects.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6028&p=229757&hilit=dupont#p229757

Perfect opportunity for Chevrolet to enter F1 then, I think.

[FMecha]

^Salamander once talked about Chevrolet/GM's chances in motorsport over the IRC channel and says that GM will only enter a motorsport category if it fits GM's marketing strategy, so no, I doubt that would happen, go_rubens.

[DanielPT]

I think they toned down their efforts massively when it was confirmed that they couldn't enter a customer car.

They still tried to buy Honda in 2008, applied for a place for 2010, and tried to buy Renault in 2009.

That's commitment if I've ever heard of it! I still think Chevrolet is a realistic bet to enter, which brings me to an idea I had in March (well, EDT), a mere few days after I joined:

http://www.f1rejects.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6028&p=229757&hilit=dupont#p229757

Perfect opportunity for Chevrolet to enter F1 then, I think.

^Salamander once talked about Chevrolet/GM's chances in motorsport over the IRC channel and says that GM will only enter a motorsport category if it fits GM's marketing strategy, so no, I doubt that would happen, go_rubens.

http://www.autos.ca/general-news/chevrolet-europe-to-downsize-lineup-focus-on-opelvauxhall-and-expand-cadillac/

Given that GM is posting losses in the European market and is thus downsizing the Chevrolet brand over here, I am willing to safely say that GM will not enter with Chevrolet in F1 anytime soon. This is not only a question of marketing as it is a question of limiting losses. So I do agree with FMecha on this.

[AndreaModa]

There's more chance of an MG F1 team than Chevrolet at the moment! They're not even bothering with WTCC anymore!

[mario]

I think they toned down their efforts massively when it was confirmed that they couldn't enter a customer car.

They still tried to buy Honda in 2008, applied for a place for 2010, and tried to buy Renault in 2009.

They did show strong interest in the past, but that was before the unmitigated disaster that was the AMR-One project in 2011 that has since seen them scale back their involvement in the WEC to just the GT classes.

Now, the prospect that David Richards might be lured back to F1 with an Aston Martin/Prodrive works entry is not implausible, but I can only really see him wanting to do it if the budget cap definitely comes into force. His public comments from about 2011 onwards have been less favourable towards F1, complaining that the sport is dominated by the wealthiest rather than the most innovative teams, and he has also indicated that Prodrive wouldn't have the revenue to compete in F1 if the teams continue spending at their current rate.

Although the FIA has said that it wants to see competitive tenders for 2015 - an announcement that would seem to hint at wanting manufacturer involvement - I suspect that there aren't that many manufacturers that would want to enter into F1 right now. If they're lucky, there might be a few more competitive independent teams that might want to enter the sport in 2015 - provided there was some sort of financial provision to prevent them being ruined almost immediately - but manufacturers are unlikely to want to enter F1 at a time when costs are still high.

Even so, it is rather a stretch to envisage Nissan suddenly making the jump to a full blown works F1 program...

...mainly because Nissan is owned by Renault these days, and there's no way two engines from the same company would be allowed to compete with each other. And then there's Infiniti, Nissan's luxury brand - remember the plan to brand Red Bull's engines this year as Infiniti instead of Renault?

Also, Nissan is working oon a works LMP1 entry for 2016. WEC just seems to be more interesting for manufacturers.

Nissan are interested in the WEC, with the Garage 56 entry they're fielding acting as a rolling test bed for a prospective LMP1 power unit, but I think that they are not fully committed just yet - I believe that they want to see whether the ACO's latest attempts at maintaining a reasonable performance balance between petrol hybrid and diesel hybrid cars under the 2014 regulations are actually reasonably balanced. Manufacturers do seem interested in the P1 category, but at the same time the uncertainty over the effectiveness of the ACO's performance balancing seems to be enough of a deterrent to prevent too many wanting to make the step just yet.

dinizintheoven is right to point out that Nissan's ties with Renault would reduce the value of Nissan entering the sport in its own right, making it rather unlikely that they would want to. Similarly, the major problems that Chevrolet have had would suggest that their focus is more likely to be on merely surviving, let alone funding an expensive race team with questionable returns on investment, and the VW Group has already issued a formal statement in response to questions from journalists to confirm that they have no interest in entering F1.
As for the others, well, Toyota have already supposedly said no too - and if they are unwilling to fund a two car effort in the WEC, a series where their entire operation (i.e. the works team and their customer engine division) is rumoured to run on $30 million a year (or about a tenth of what they were rumoured to be spending in F1), the odds of committing to a much more expensive F1 program would seem low.

All in all, unless one of the existing manufacturers has a sudden change in heart or a new manufacturer suddenly enters both the WEC and F1 simultaneously - an even more unlikely prospect - I struggle to see manufacturers coming from the WEC into F1.

[pi314159]

As for the others, well, Toyota have already supposedly said no too - and if they are unwilling to fund a two car effort in the WEC, a series where their entire operation (i.e. the works team and their customer engine division) is rumoured to run on $30 million a year (or about a tenth of what they were rumoured to be spending in F1), the odds of committing to a much more expensive F1 program would seem low.

While Toyota hasn't done a two car effort in WEC in 2012 or 2013, it is planned for next year.

[go_Rubens]

As for the others, well, Toyota have already supposedly said no too - and if they are unwilling to fund a two car effort in the WEC, a series where their entire operation (i.e. the works team and their customer engine division) is rumoured to run on $30 million a year (or about a tenth of what they were rumoured to be spending in F1), the odds of committing to a much more expensive F1 program would seem low.

While Toyota hasn't done a two car effort in WEC in 2012 or 2013, it is planned for next year.

So does that mean that Toyota will run 3 cars for the 24 Heures du Mans, as most teams run one more car than they normally would for Le Mans than 6 hour events? Pretty almighty with a $30,000,000 budget. And they can keep up with Audi who have about a $120,000,000 budget. Bloody awesome.

[mario]

As for the others, well, Toyota have already supposedly said no too - and if they are unwilling to fund a two car effort in the WEC, a series where their entire operation (i.e. the works team and their customer engine division) is rumoured to run on $30 million a year (or about a tenth of what they were rumoured to be spending in F1), the odds of committing to a much more expensive F1 program would seem low.

While Toyota hasn't done a two car effort in WEC in 2012 or 2013, it is planned for next year.

So does that mean that Toyota will run 3 cars for the 24 Heures du Mans, as most teams run one more car than they normally would for Le Mans than 6 hour events? Pretty almighty with a $30,000,000 budget. And they can keep up with Audi who have about a $120,000,000 budget. Bloody awesome.

Of course there is the caveat that, asides from that figure only being rumours, we don't know how much Toyota invested during their initial development phase - still, given that Toyota have only run two car efforts at Le Mans in the past when Audi have had as many as four entries, you'd expect there to be a reasonable disparity between the two outfits.
If they are going ahead and expanding to two cars on a permanent basis, I'd expect that budget to rise a bit as a result, though probably nowhere near what Audi are spending on their program - it also makes you wonder what Porsche's budget will be too, since you would assume that VW would want to make sure that Porsche can beat Toyota at least.

[EDIT] As an aside on Porsche's racing efforts, evidently the budget must be reasonably healthy - they have announced their final two drivers (Brendon Hartley and Marc Lieb) on top of the four drivers they'd already named, not to mention buying a controlling stake in the Manthey Racing team. The upshot is that Porsche have signed up 20 drivers for 2014, one of the largest, if not the largest, squad of works drivers that they've ever employed. http://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/porsc ... 13505.html

[Basetornado]

Fixed

.

1. I don't have to bring in sponsorship money, as I don't really have any. I could chuck in a few quid though, but no large amounts.
2. Taki Inoue is my race engineer.
3. I get access to Taki Inoue's personal booze stash.

[Rusujuur]

I honestly cannot see massive interest for a 12th entry. Many teams are/were looking for financial backers so the easy way to go would be to buy them out. Lotus is probably for sale if the price is right and they have a long history as a unit. Any manufacturer looking for an entry would do the right thing in buying and not building from scratch. As for the privateers, they to could have bought Hispania OR probably atleast 2-3 other teams.

[Julien]

Let's all cheer for another Lola adventure

[pi314159]

Let's all cheer for another Lola adventure

I don't see Lola having another attempt at the moment. Lola went bankrupt and were sold to Multimatic last year. At least they're building cars again, but they're not in a situation where they can start an F1 team.

[f1andrea]

"The new boss of Prodrive Motorsport has targeted an expansion into Formula E and rally raids such as the Dakar". I guess F1 in 2015-2016 is not in Prodrive plans anymore

[OsellaFA1L]

I expect either Caterham and Marussia to fold or merge before 2016, so another team would do F1 a world of good.

[Rocks with Salt]

Okay, so the first season of the new turbo-era will most likely be do-or-die for Marussia and Caterham, since everything will be so expensive. But honestly, why is everyone holding their breath for any new teams that aren't privateer ventures? All the big manufacturer names have repeatedly said no, and until the world economy reaches booming levels again, that shouldn't change. I wouldn't be surprised to see just nine teams in the coming years and F1 will just have to deal with it, especially considering WEC is so appealing right now.

[Backmarker]

But honestly, why is everyone holding their breath for any new teams that aren't privateer ventures?

1) I can't see any privateer ventures being able to enter Formula One before the budget cap is brought in; they have seen how competitive HRT, Marussia and Caterham have been thanks to the lack of a budget cap.
2) As the FIA have given a very short window for applications, that suggests that they already have a team lined up with the backing and ability to create a team and chassis in time for 2015 or 2016. I don't know who else that could be except manufacturers (or a privateer with manufacturer backing like Stewart and Ford's relationship in 1997), unless Carlos Slim or someone of similarly enormous means has expressed interest.

It's a shame we have had no clue who is applying for the spot.

[f1andrea]

Onyx will enter in WTCC in 2014

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112051

[Nessafox]

Onyx will enter in WTCC in 2014

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112051

And their former sponsor Van Rossem is returning to politics in 2014, this can't be a coincidence (altough the guy now has insanely huge personal debts)

[dinizintheoven]

If the Monteverdi family gets wind of this, Peter's hand will shoot out of his grave Carrie-style, and make a grab for the cars. Next thing you know, the pink stripe has turned green and the team disappears midway through 2015.

[Wallio]

Here's a crazy idea. Could the new team be Andretti Autosport? They are running Formula E, and yesterday announced a team for the GRC series, so they are well versed in not just open wheel racing, but with FIA series as well. And Michael has said before that if customer cars go through he'd sign up immediately. Plus Mario still goes to a few GPs per year. Crazier things have happened, right?

[mario]

Here's a crazy idea. Could the new team be Andretti Autosport? They are running Formula E, and yesterday announced a team for the GRC series, so they are well versed in not just open wheel racing, but with FIA series as well. And Michael has said before that if customer cars go through he'd sign up immediately. Plus Mario still goes to a few GPs per year. Crazier things have happened, right?

The notion has been suggested in a few quarters, and it is plausible that the Andretti's could consider committing to F1 if, and it is a big if, F1 were more affordable. That situation would probably be dependent on both the proposed cost cap coming in and being effectively policed and the introduction of customer cars, since I assume that Andretti would not want to risk being overextended given that they are expanding their racing activities.

I could potentially see di Montezemolo wanting to sign a deal with Andretti Autosport if he succeeded in his quest to have customer cars legalised - di Montezemolo would have his dream of a prestigious North American based team running his cars, potentially helping lure sponsors from the US to the works Ferrari team and solidifying Ferrari's presence in the US, whilst Andretti could in turn raise their profile - and chances for sponsorship - outside of the US, which may also help them expand their activities into other racing series.

However, the issue of whether or not both customer cars and a cost cap could be agreed upon is likely to be a major stumbling block. Although the FIA is due to hold a meeting with the teams on the 22nd Jan to discuss the cost cap, di Montezemolo has already said that he doesn't think that the cost cap can be successfully implemented, so long and difficult negotiations are likely to lie ahead over such measures.
I am not sure Ferrari could find enough support within the Strategy Group to get customer cars legalised either - Red Bull have indicated that they are favourable to the idea of customer cars (since they'd obviously benefit if Toro Rosso could run rebadged versions of the Red Bull works cars), but the remaining teams have indicated that they are, at best, neutral, and at the worst hostile to the idea. FOM might support the idea, though they might be wary of antagonising Mercedes (a team known to be hostile to the idea of customer cars), whilst the FIA seems to have been fairly neutral to slightly adverse to the idea of customer cars - all in all, I think that Ferrari might struggle a little to get its way.

[Backmarker]

Andretti could do an HRT and contract Dallara to build the chassis - since 2012 Dallara have operated a factory in the USA "not only for the support and service of the IndyCar program but additionally as a consultancy partner to the US automotive industry and all other forms of motor racing." Obviously I would be wary, given the quality of the F110 (not entirely Dallara's fault, though, as HRT couldn't afford to have them provide updates), but it would be a cheap way to do it, with a local company.

[GwilymJJames]

AMuS reports that there are 3 bids: Gene Haas Racing, Colin Kolles and, best of all, ZORAN STEFANOVIC

[pi314159]

AMuS reports that there are 3 bids: Gene Haas Racing, Colin Kolles and, best of all, ZORAN STEFANOVIC

I'd say Haas is most likely to get an entry. Kolles has an outside chance, and Stefanovic has no chance at all. Isn't this his fourth attempt to join F1?

Here's the article, by the way: http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 84603.html

[Shizuka]

ZORAN STEFANOVIC

And what about our blue collar worker?

[Backmarker]

I'm disappointed to learn that Gene Haas is no relation to Carl Haas, of Haas Lola fame.

It's comforting to read, after my idle speculation that Dallara would be a good chassis manufacturer for an American team, that according to AMuS Haas will have Dallara build the chassis.

I would actually like to see Colin Kolles get a team of his own, I think that he did a great job at HRT and the team would still be in the sport if they'd remained at his base in Germany rather than moving to Spain. That said, I get the impression that Bernie/the FIA aren't keen, and his recent blackmail attempt on Toto Wolff probably won't help.

I will quite happily wager my avatar that Stefan Grand Prix will not be on the grid in 2015 or 2016. They've had multiple attempts blocked, the FIA don't like them, and the finances are dodgier than the Artful Dodger eating a jammy dodger while driving a Dodge Charger through Dodge City, Kansas, while dodging the LA Dodgers.

[girry]

Zoran Stefanovic. Again.

Either FIA has a great sense of humour or they all have severe dementia there.

However, I'd be happy to see both other appliciants on the grid.

[Wallio]

http://motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... n-f1-team/

NBC reporting it now, and as they say, everyone laughed when it was rumored he'd sign Busch, plus he does have the equipment......

[AndreaModa]

However, I'd be happy to see both other appliciants on the grid.

That's a point. Technically there are two slots available to take the grid up to 26. I agree and think Kolles would be a fine addition to the grid, alongside a much-needed US team which if done properly could pave the way for other interested parties in the US to step forward in future. If I were the FIA I'd get both in while they can if their proposals are up to scratch. In all probability in future years there may be a lot less interest in entering, so getting teams in when they're the ones coming to the FIA is a no-brainer really.