Haas - American team in F1

[shelly]

I do not think that there is any link between a country's culture and the ability for a team from that country to be successful in f1.
Today there is no border for technology and people - much more than in the 80s and 90s when ferrari had to build a technical office in England. The only limiting factor to competitiveness is the access to the knowledge of some best practices (especially in packaging and systems) and some loopholes /tricks in aero rules and software.
In Europe thes knoledge gets spreaded by the natural change of personnel between teams; to the US it is not impossible (some european F1 guys were already moving with USF1) but less intense.
At the beginning probably just a bunch of people with knowledge of ballpark figures for current F1 performance in every area is enough to start a team.

[vAnDiX]

http://www.crash.net/f1/news/203718/1/f ... d-bid.html

Gene Haas should abandon plans to base his nascent F1 team in the USA and instead relocate to the sport's European heartland.

That is the belief of two men who, while never in charge of running a team, have seen previous attempts to operate from the other side of the Atlantic founder. The most recent American-based F1 hopeful, USF1, failed to even reach the starting grid when supposed to join Virgin, Lotus and HRT in the 2010 line-up, and Haas is being warned to reconsider if he wants to make a serious impression on the category.

[FW17]

Who cares what John Watson and Johnny Herbert has to say, have they accomplished anything along the lines of team management or ownership? or do they have in depth knowledge of the current economics of basing the team at Concord, NC?


Crash.net is just another group of brits

[NathanOlder]

Id say John Watson & Johnny Herbert would have a better chance at running a successful team that Gene Haas. Just purely through connections. If I were setting up a new team and John & Johnny told me I'd be crazy to set up in the US , i'd be heading for Europe that day.
Just my opinion

[Tim.Wright]

Meh, I'd say the best way to create an expensive failure would be to put a driver in charge of things.

Can't say I'd agree that a county's culture is insignificant in the projects success either. Especially on technical matters, solving problems and generally getting --- done... some cultures are good at this and some are terrible. Luckily for Haas, yanks are pretty good at this kind of stuff.

Remember, Germany was once the centre of the racing world. Then they weren't. England is currently the centre of the racing world, then.... Who knows. By the way, you wouldn't believe how easy it is to convince Brits to up and leave for the states or oz...

[FW17]

Who the heck are the yanks?

[Lycoming]

A colloquial term for "american", when used by somebody not in america (like Tim).

[acosmichippo]

England is currently the centre of the racing world...

The entire racing world?

[Burgess]

This thread is fast degrading into a nationality swinging match.

[bhall]

This thread is fast degrading into a nationality swinging match.

I think we can put that on Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson's spectacular failure under the USF1 banner a few years ago. The turmoils of a single entity reflected very poorly on an entire country's racing acumen simply because two boneheads thought a nationalistic approach to branding was a good idea. As if there weren't already enough cringeworthy aspects to our national identity on the world stage...

Gene Haas is attempting to enter Formula One. Any success or failure he encounters will be his alone.

[rich1701]

The problem with a team based in America is the talent pool is in Europe. I'm not saying American engineers have no talent but they certainly lack experience with racing in formula 1. They would have to pay a premium price to cherry pick key people from Europe to be competitive. Remember Toyota paying Mike Gascoigne an obscene amount of money to work in Cologne and pay for a private jet so he could travel there and back. It's just crazy.

The National team concept will never work, Tony Fernandes initially wanted Team Lotus to be based in Malaysia and have most of its staff be Malaysian nationals. That idea never materialised.

[Harsha]

Can a team join the season in the Middle like Race 5 or 6 to compete or they should be competed from Race 1.
Because Haas once said that 2015 is too soon and 2016 is too far for them

[Skippon]

Its not just the availability of talent.
One of the benefits of the motorsport cluster in the UK, is that there are a lot of subcontractors and suppliers close to hand. So if you need a fast turn around part, its quick and easy to do....... Often it is that responsiveness that will win you the race or at least in F1 keep your development rate up there.......

[Moxie]

Can a team join the season in the Middle like Race 5 or 6 to compete or they should be competed from Race 1.
Because Haas once said that 2015 is too soon and 2016 is too far for them

The short answer is No! While I do not know any contractual details, and Bernie is not terribly worried about being consistent. A few years ago the Ken Anderson USF1 effort asked for more time and wanted to field a car mid-season. He was flatly denied.

[xpensive]

I stand at awe, learning that so many members take the Haas thing seriously.