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 There is a splash of red on the VF-16 (for Very First) that will
make its race debut in Melbourne on March 20 but forget about any
white and blue, stars and stripes flag-waving patriotism.
Grey, light and dark, is the standout color and Haas branding
dominates.
"The colors on the car are kind of Haas primary colors. That's what
we wanted," said Gene Haas, the industrialist whose Haas Automation
company is the largest machine tool manufacturer in North America
with more than $1 billion in annual sales.
"Our sales thrust here is to sell more machine tools," added the
63-year-old.
"We are doing this more as a challenge to market our products and be
involved in the races," said Haas, a familiar face to U.S. motor
racing fans as co-owner of the Stewart-Haas Racing NASCAR Sprint
Cup-winning team.
Their drivers are French and Mexican, Romain Grosjean and Esteban
Gutierrez respectively, the team have a European base and the number
of actual Americans on staff are in a distinct minority.
Most of the race mechanics have been recruited from British-based F1
teams.
The chassis is made in Italy by Dallara, the engines are provided by
Ferrari and the principal is Guenther Steiner, a German-speaking,
Italian-born naturalized American who has spent much of his career
in Europe.
There was some disappointment when Alexander Rossi, who last season
raced for Manor Marussia as the first U.S. Formula One driver since
2007, was passed over for a race seat but that was never the plan.
"We were not looking at nationalism when we came to put this team
together, we were looking at obtaining the best possible people and
products and engines and transmission that we can," Haas told
reporters at pre-season testing in Barcelona.
"We're here to win races, not to do it the hard way."
FERRARI LINKS
Haas have forged close ties with Ferrari and used their NASCAR
experience to keep costs down with as much as possible outsourced.
The headquarters are in Kannapolis, North Carolina but there is a
European operational base in Banbury, central England for logistics.
The team use the Ferrari wind tunnel at Maranello in Italy.
Previous American teams have been shortlived, the most recent being
Lola Haas which competed without success in 1985 and 1986.
That team's founder Carl Haas is no relation to Gene.
Before that there was the Parnelli Jones outfit that raced between
1974 and 1976 and the Anglo-American Racers Eagle team in the 1960s
that won the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix with Dan Gurney at the wheel.
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Winning races is very much a dream for Haas at the moment and an
achievement that few teams have managed when dependent on an engine
provided by a manufacturer that also has its own factory team.
Toro Rosso did it against the odds with Ferrari engines in 2008, and
Haas have a winners' mentality from NASCAR, but scoring points --
maybe even in the opening race -- is more realistic.
With only 11 cars finishing last season's opening race in Melbourne,
and points going to the top 10, just having the reliability to get
to the finish can be sufficient.
"Our plan is to basically capitalize on reliability. If we can just
be reliable and stay in the races we can actually probably finish
eighth or ninth just by that," said Haas.
"If we have performance, then we can even move up from there."
Even if Haas says the team have a reasonable budget and do not need
sponsors to go racing, he is open to other backers coming in once
the team have shown how professional they are.
He also hopes American fans will get behind the project.
"We've been involved in NASCAR for over 15 years so this is just a
continuation of that on an international basis," said Haas.
"Certainly we'd like to be an American team ... but we haven't
specifically gone out there and said 'We're doing this because we're
an American team'. We're doing this because we're in motor racing
and we just happen to be an American team.
"If we can beat them (the Europeans), or at least keep up with them,
I think people are going to want to watch," added Haas. "They are
going to watch to see if you beat them and if you don't, how badly
you crash."
(Editing by Tony Jimenez)
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