Fixed it better.

JR

If you are quiet and listen very carefully you can hear the cash getting sucked into the F1 money vaccuum.

This just in - the Italian magazine Autosprint is reporting that the Haas team will use Ferrari power. A very bold choice, if true, I should think, given Ferrari's problems so far this year.

They should be giving those engines away for free.

ahem, Power Units :rolleyes:

Drivers? Might as well find two new fresh and rabid aggressive driver from Brazil. Let them fight it out.

Not sure now about Hunter-Reay. Watched him brain cramp his way into a five car, front runner accident at Long Beach. Truly his fault. Need more brains than that.

The (Very) Short List of Potential American Drivers for Gene Haas in 2015

Uh, I don't know about this list, originally posted by enzo1. Yes, it would be great to have an American driver. But what the team would need even more than that is a driver who can be competitive. I would think that a brand new team would want a driver with known potential and a lot of experience. Bourdais could do it, I should think - his short tenure with Toro Rosso was no indicator because of the poisonous atmosphere in that team. Witness the Scott Speed mess. In fact, Speed probably another good candidate, if he isn't completely sick of the whole F1 deal. Even better, though, would be a Filipe Massa, who I bet is on a one-year deal with Williams.

For sure, whomever they contract with, that person will have to be the size of a jockey. That would disqualify some of the Indycar drivers named above, I should think.

There are American drivers who could win in F1, but none with sponsorship money behind them. Yet.

Agree 100% no place for patriotism in F1 when recruiting the right people, nationality doesn't come into it.

I wish there were more Americans in F1, I think it must be the lack of understanding of British irony and that you can't pack heat at work that keeps you guys away.

F1 is as international as sports get but Oxfordshire in the UK is the epicentre where 7 teams are clustered closely together (50 miles being the furthest distance between any 2 factories). I think this is for historical reasons due to the close proximity of Silverstone, sort of like Gasoline Alley is to the Indy circuit. McLaren is 2hrs south, also couple of isolated outposts in northern Italy where Ferrari and Torro Rosso are and Sauber is in Switzerland.

Even mighty companies like Mercedes, Honda and Renault thought it was best to set up the UK but Toyota expanded their rally headquarters in Germany.

Back to Haas, having Dallara design the chassis or buying a 2014 car (assuming no FIA rules prevent the carrying over of the cars chassis) is not in breach of any constructor rules and the only real option for racing next year. A few years ago Super Aguri did an engine change to an old Arrows chassis for their first foray into F1, not pretty but a very effective way of starting up.

By the time Haas has recruited enough people for his own show it will be too late for 2015 due to most people having long term notice periods or contracts with teams If Haas is sensible he will set up shop in Oxfordshire so he can poach from the captive pool of local talent.

He should start recruiting very soon as there are faint rumblings Audi are gearing up for a full F1 assault. The F1 gene pool is quite small as it spits out people almost faster than it consumes newbies, there is never enough good experienced guys to go around

Needs must so every short cut will be weighed up the team including I'm sure delaying until 2016 which would be a shame if it happens.

Only a conspiracy theory but if Haas could get Ross Brawn to stop fishing and use the services of Bob Bell who resigned today from Mercedes the team would have two of the very best technical people in F1. All Mr. Haas would need to do to achieve success would be to leave those two alone to do what they do and keep writing the cheques.

Now that would be something to get excited about.

Cap, very insightful post. I agree that Haas would be isolated and not do well setting up shop in the U.S.

I don't think he has a snowball's chance of setting uo a team to run in the 2015 season. He'd have to have a car built in less than 10 months and he has absolutely nothing at this point. No factory, no personnel, no nothing... Nada.

After watching the Red Bull films from last year that showed the pace of development in F1, I can't imagine he really understands the magnitude of what he's starting.

JR

lol...oh, you were serious?

Lo EFFIN L!!!!

Cap' you'd know better than anyone here would but Brawn has been doing this since Schumacher got outta diapers and into a race car. Do these guys really have the fire after all this time to make it successful?

Haas seems to be saying today that he is indeed hoping for 2015, but may wait until 2016. He's apparently hired as team principle Gunther Steiner, formerly of Jaguar and Red Bull.

He confirmed use of Dallara for the chassis. I think they still build the GP2 cars, no?

He's also saying he wants to hire two drivers - one, someone from within F1 to take advantage of experience, and second, a young American.

Finally, he's saying that engine choices are down to Mercedes and Ferrari. I don't think there's any choice at all there, Mercedes seems like the hot tip for sure, but what do I know?

Oh, one more thing: He's calling the U.S. "the most advanced country in the world" and saying that there is therefore no reason at all why the team can't be run from a base in the Carolinas.

Well, he may be right; but I fear he may be headed for a big awakening. As Capt. Ahab points out, the center of the F1 world is in the U.K. That's where the support and knowledge resides. He might recall that Toyota tried to be successful from a HQ in Germany. That team failed for a lot of reasons, but being sited where it was surely didn't help.

Mercedes is the obvious choice today...but luca has been in meetings and I would suspect that he is none too pleased w/ Mercedes dominance. things may tip in Ferraris favor by the time gene is in the game. don't get me wrong...I am not a luca fan...despise luca:)

I know a lot of the roundy round folks so when I am back in lake norman, I will check into what is really going on w/ haas and his f-1 ambitions.

I will say that his ideas of working with an existing builder and not going the route of us f-1 like Windsor was attempting...makes more sense.

I think to be a successful team in F1, you need a good development driver. You need someone who can drive the car as is and tell the engineers what to do to make it better. Much of Ferrari's success in the 2000's can be attributed to Luca Badoer's abilities as a good development and test driver.

With the current regulations allowing minimum on track testing: Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website
more importance is placed on the driver's ability to understand what the car needs and how to make it better. Listen carefully to what Alonso says in his post race interviews. He understands the car better than any current driver in the field in my opinion.

Rubens Barrichello is an excellent development driver. If I were starting a team, he would be on my short list of drivers to develop a brand new car that would be competitive. If not as a driver, then as someone to develop the car and get the right drivers in place.

He mentioned having a European base, in addition to the US one. There's no reason why the car couldn't be designed and made here, near his existing facilities. A European base might be needed for logistical reasons but it isn't as important as it used to be, given that far less than half the of the races are based there. I'd be tempted to look at something different.

JR