Gene Haas reckons his new team's 2016 chassis design is 'better' than Ferrari's | F1 News What a ridiculous statement. There is probably a good reason why ferrari uses a ''conventional'' chassis and not one that goes in a different direction. Square wheels are not conventional, and they're very good at one thing: making sure your car doesn't roll back when it's on a hill. But it's not very good at other things. I've no idea why he puts out statements like this in the first place. He's now (again) put a certain expectation of his team next year. If he doesn't deliver (and history shows us that delivering in your very first season for a brand new F1 team is very, very rare, especially in this era. Brawn does not count since it was a rebadged Honda that had half a billion invested and 2 years development overseen by one of the best brains in F1), he'll look like an idiot. If he's so sure if he had a good chassis/car, he should still downplay. Everyone loves the underdog. if he said ''in the first season we will try our best to compete with independants like Sauber, who use the same engine as us, and try and score points''. If they're a regular points scorer, people will love it.
Cue Ferrari tearing up the agreement to supply engines! What a dumb thing to come out with. If he has a Honda-esque season he will be a laughing stock
Exactly... Though doubt agreement will get torn up Haha. But business is all about managing expectations. Haas is doing a very poor job at it...
at least he said "some" parts could be better, and "probably". In another interview this week he said he'd be happy to score even 1 point, which we know will also be a stretch. I think the headline is just exaggerating.
I read the article. I doesn't clearly say that it will be a better chassis. He thinks that it will be a better chassis in certain ways but not overall. Plus he didn't say that he will have a better and faster car than ferrari. Let's not create an issue with no reason.
+2 I think he's got some smart guys involved, and may just do something 'innovative'. He also seems to be setting pretty reasonable expectations - Scoring a few points would be a damn good start, and that appears to be what he's shooting for. Cheers, Ian
I read the entire interview. the quote is a bit out of context. Haas will be humbled for a good while, but kudos to him for getting out there.
+1 What's he meant to say? "We're going to get our doors blown off"...... "We've no chance of scoring any points"...."we're just making up the numbers".... As noted many times, "optimism springs eternal" in all forms of motorsport. Actually, all forms of sport I guess. You don't want to start any season thinking 'we're gonna suck!' Cheers, Ian
16th would be a good place for a new team's debut season, it is McLaren who won't be happy if they are still fighting to even finish a race. The Ferrari engine/trans/chassis already has proven reliability while sadly the Honda is still a coin toss. I am not dissing McLaren nor trying to say Haas will not have huge hurdles to overcome. I am looking forward to the 2016 season. Gregg PS, I am still a little surprised that Rossi was not brought in (the whole American team aspect) until I read the article about Haas having to utilize a Ferrari team driver which I hope is only for their first season.
What Haas basically said is that Ferrari have stuck with what they know and will have a conventional chassis, whilst his teams chassis will be more innovative in comparison. The big difference at this stage is, Ferrari will have a pretty good idea as to what their chassis will do, how to read it, how to adjust it, how to set it up, how to tweak it etc., etc. HAAS on the other hand will not have much of a clue on any of that, in fact, at this stage they probably don't even know if their "innovative" chassis will even pass the official FIA crash test. HAAS would do well to learn the lessons of others in F1: Honda tried to be innovative with their latest entry into F1 - Didn't quite work out as well as the computers said it would! Being "innovative" in F1 isn't always the smartest idea! - As the old saying goes: "You should learn to walk before you can run!"
I read an interview today with Haas on the F1 App. I got the opposite impression: instead of being boastful, he sounded like he was downplaying expectations: "I would not mind finishing behind the Ferrari at every race" "If we score one point I would be happy" When asked why Grosjean thinks Haas has so much potential, he said "I am glad that he's got faith because so far we haven't produced anything"
I would like to see them do well, as it bodes well for Ferrari having closer links and able to use a second team to help development, a la toro rosso, and to bring a bigger element to f1 in the eyes of the US, but I think it is better to say nothing at all, than to laud your innovative ideas, ie, unproven and untested ideas, BEFORE you have even tested them. I'd keep my mouth shut and make sure the car is within 107% before I started crowing about it
I pay zero attention to these claims by Haas. Personally I think they are more likely aimed at the other teams. If you look at the relationship so far they are quietly sharing and getting on with preparations for next year. I wouldn't be surprised to see Haas with the conservative car and some radical changes on the Ferrari
They should have gotten Magnussen. I wonder if McLaren held on to him so long it was too late to sign him. One thing for sure. No team with a Ferrari engine will be able to beat a Ferrari factory car.
Did you actually read the quote vs the idiotic headline? He said it will be better in some ways. I'm sure it will be. For instance Allison himself was not able to change portions of the suspension this year because they didn't have time. The Ferrari chassis is not where Allison wants it yet. Furthermore, Dallara knows what they're doing and has a massive amount of experience. No way Haas is at the bottom next year of the constructors. They are going to surprise some people for sure.
Yah well Haas doesn't have a brand new engine, and they are using a ton of pieces from Ferrari, and have Dallara rounding it out. Sounds like a recipe for success. ...and I never said that about Honda ; )
Totally disagree. Dallara is making the chassis and is their partner. They make the GP2 chassis, which are about as close as you can get to F1 chassis. They also make the Indycar chassis which is very good. So saying they won't have any ability to adjust based on feedback is a bit silly IMO. Haas didn't just walk into F1 out of the cotton fields, they did so in a very smart way.
So, how does that work out with the obligation to make the chassis "in house", and to own the intellectual rights over it to be considered a constructor by the FIA. They apparently visit the shops and check what is made and where. I read that Gene Hass doesn't want to follow the other teams like Caterham, Manor and HRT, but outsource as much as he can. That's the way he did in NASCAR, apparently. But in F1 he has different criterias to fulfill. Ferrari power unit, transmission and suspension, Dallara chassis; so what is Haas actually engineering in his workshop?
