I have a bad feeling that HAAS is going to be a sh#t show this year in regards to results. However that wouldn't be much different than recent years!
They have not the facilities for a great leap of performance. Not yet at least. Haas demands more efficiency from his new Team Leader. A 'rebuilding' year then it is lol.
The loss of technical director Simone Resta, may be more crucial than Guenther Steiner's departure, IMO. Ayao Komatsu was a trackside engineer before being promoted to the role of principal, not involved in design and development. I think Resta acted as the technical coordinator between Haas, Ferrari and Dalarra, so had an essential role..
Steiner was important and more so was Resta. Together out, at the start of testing in 4 weeks. Poorly timed. No matter as the Haas will not be a threat to really anyone I think. The year is probably over already.
HI Haas! This is how you get things moving forward. Invest and hire an accomplished proven winner to lead your team. Long Term - not found in the Haas lexicon so far lol. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/why-williams-f1-is-no-longer-living-hand-to-mouth/10567381/ Why Williams F1 is no longer living "hand-to-mouth" The Williams Formula 1 team took a first step in its long road to recovery with the arrival of former Mercedes man James Vowles in 2023, who has brought back long-term thinking to the Grove squad. With investment and commitment in place from owners Dorilton, incoming team boss Vowles has been backed to make sweeping changes in a bid to restore the winner of seven drivers' and nine constructors' titles to its former glory. Williams has suffered from years of underinvestment that gradually turned it from a benchmark into a backmarker. But instead of putting all its efforts into just surviving another year, its fresh impetus under F1's budget cap means Vowles and his recent key hire Pat Fry as CTO can now fully chart out where Williams' Grove facility and its staff need to be in five years time and put all the intermediate steps in place to get there. While Vowles' new-look Williams isn't built in a day, and the team is unlikely to make big jumps until the 2026 regulation reset, Fry felt the team has to develop a "winning mindset". That mindset shift and strategic thinking Vowles has brought from Mercedes is already making a difference according to Head of Vehicle Performance Dave Robson, and a shift from "short-term firefighting" as Vowles called it. "There are all sorts of things that James has sort of unlocked," Robson told Autosport. "I think that probably one of the biggest things is for the first time in a long time we're not just focused on today and tomorrow, so you can afford to have a much more long-term or medium-term view on things.
In engineering and product design and development, the difference between a long term strategy and short term "fire fighting" is the difference between night and day, the difference between swimming and drowning.
Haas is 'floundering' rather than moving forward. They lack the aero focus required to capture and use the power of the Ferrari PU.
Steiner most specific issue was the lack of funding to improve facilities and then improve performance. Its just not difficult to see that is it. Gene is full of excuses and not good sound reasoning with his stance on the subject. The new leader is facing the EXACT same issues. 'Efficiency' alone is not about to help them as much as they need it. I think his model is broken as Steiner stated.
Gene Haas is probably still unable to attract a big sponsor (he had his fingers burnt before), and also unwilling to put more of his own money in the team, beyond what he already invested to set it up. No, he isn't full of excuse; he says it as it is: it wouldn't be wise to use Haas Automation to fund Haas F1. So in the meantime, the team is in survival mode. A rich backer may turn up ( like it did for Williams all these years ago). Personally, I admire the balancing act of Gene Haas who manages to survive as a small fish in a business awash with money. I think he does quite well, compared to Lotus, Caterham, Marusia, HTT, etc ... that prededed him.
Agree, Gene Haas isn’t a clown. I’m fairly certain situation will slowly improve for the team in the coming years.
The team will never improve, nor survive with Haas as the owner. The only question is will Haas sell to Andretti now...or tormorrow when the team will be worth even less. His billion dollar fantasy value disappeared hafway through the 2023 season.
Well, it all depends if Andretti Global is allowed to join the grid as the 11th team. If not, Andretti will have to chose between forgetting his ambition to become a F1 team owner, or ... swallow his pride and try to buy an existing team ... at any price ! Since it's doubtful that Williams or Alpha Tauri will be for sale anytime soon, HAAS F1 will be the next target ... But one can even imagine Haas selling to someone else !!
Steiner sold Haas a dream of cheap glory. It hasn't panned out for either of them. F1 has to decide whether Haas as a perpetual back marker is more valuable than Andretti as new blood with tons of ambition and a major new engine supplier that brings fresh money and competition to the sport. If Andretti comes in as the 11th team and humiliates Haas, Gene will have cut off his own nose to spite his face, and he'll have trouble giving the team away. Haas has only one way to leave graciously, and that means selling to Andrette over a 3 year period that allows him to pocket the money and also not have to finance the team.
IF Andretti beats HAAS, which is highly unlikely in 2 years in F1, then HAAS will eventually sell the team and an interested buyer will eventually buy the team. Time will tell..
Exactly. In the meantime, with FOM's green light still pending, Andretti is losing time. Starting from scratch it should take at least 2 years to get a F1 team operational if everything goes right. Realistically, Andretti Global won't be on the grid in 2025, and even if approval is granted, unlikely in 2026 too.
Saw this on Autosport forum : A recent interview from Gene Haas. "Ferrari has been very good to us,” said Haas. “They have been with us since day one, they build incredible engines. Their suspension is extremely good. We have been using a lot of their hardware. It works really well." "They really do help us. I'm embarrassed that we haven't been able to do better with it but going forward, I want to take advantage of good equipment that a lot of other teams don't have."
Good to hear that. The way it's all put together and the aeros are the problem, IMO. Like several teams, Haas also has tyre wear problems they don't seem able to solve.
I really don't see how one would create a competitive PU from scratch in 2 years (but I have been wrong before).
Indeed,very informative. In this era the balance between aero and mechanical set up is very difficult to find it seems..
Thats assuming he has has 800mil$ to put on the table, finish his new factory etc etc. I dont sense he is about to join for 200mil$ which is what his basis for entry to the FIA was based on. If F1 loses any popularity he might get in for less. He, Andretti is being awfully quiet lol. Again they have a name but overall he is not leading a company that dominates anywhere. They do well in Formula E. Herta who's that again?? The Andretti story is weak in total.
