It was just over a year ago that Autosport paid an exclusive visit to the nascent Haas Formula 1 team's base in Charlotte, USA to report on the progress made since machine tool magnate Gene Haas had been granted one of F1's vacant grid slots in April 2014. As outlined at the time, the team intended sourcing non-listed parts from Ferrari, having entered into a technical arrangement with the Italian team.
The visit marked the first time team principal Guenther Steiner, he of Ford World Rally Championship, Jaguar Racing F1 and Red Bull NASCAR fame, revealed exactly how the co-operation would work. He stressed that the 'Haas way' depended upon the team's interpretation of the F1 regulations, which demand that teams own the intellectual property to certain (listed*) parts, but are free to source the balance elsewhere.
Five races into its maiden season, the first American team to hit the grid in 30 years lays sixth in the title hunt with 22 points, ahead of such as Force India, McLaren and Renault - a maiden season performance that shades every other new team over the past two decades (at least), including Toyota.
As expected, there is much grumbling - mainly from the trounced - about a concept that enabled Haas to mix it with such as Toro Rosso and Force India from the off, despite operating with vastly less personnel. This, though, raises an elementary question: Why then don't existing teams 'do a Haas' by sourcing non-listed hardware from a 'mother' team?
The answer is simple: They can't. And for good reasons.
The Haas model is predicated on a long-term contract between a team willing (and able) to supply a well-funded secondary - for which read subservient - operation with non-listed parts, complete powertrains (including transmissions), and electronics/hydraulics in the long term, plus provide updates and new data as soon as designs are frozen. That alone is a big ask.
Haas's listed parts are produced by Dallara in Parma, Italy, saving Haas the cost (and timeline) of establishing its own design/engineering/manufacturing base - but the downside is that Haas does not 'own' the project in the traditional sense, being utterly dependent upon outside suppliers, whether for listed or non-listed parts.
Indeed, at present, the team produces only its own garage tooling and equipment, and windtunnel models - in Kannapolis, in the shadow of the Stewart-Haas NASCAR operation and in close proximity to the state-of-art Gene Haas-owned Windshear windtunnel. This base also serves as nerve centre and administrative headquarters of the F1 team.
However, as things stand, three current teams meet the supply criteria: Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault. McLaren-Honda could be added to the mix provided the Japanese commitment is long-term. Forget not that in 2008 Honda exited with scant notice to staff. Another such move would pull down any secondary operation. One of the requirements is that the 'mother ship' be in a position to guarantee long-term stability.
Previously, two teams had dabbled on the fringes of a Haas-type relationship, albeit serviced by an outside power unit supplier: Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso, both owned by Red Bull and powered by Renault. The teams shared a variety of componets, including gearbox, but Toro Rosso's move to Ferrari after a spate of Renault failures has increased its level of independence.
Ironically Red Bull owner Diedrich Mateschitz had originally acquired STR with a view to supplying his second-tier team with Red Bull Racing componentry - Red Bull Technology was established for that purpose. But for various reasons, including an apparent failure to interpret the regulations as Haas did, the plan came to nought, with the Italian squad gradually expanding its Faenza (ex-Minardi) base at significant expense.
Of the main trio of constructors, Ferrari has its hands full, what with president Sergio Marchionne demanding a return to title-winning form sooner rather than later, plus Haas. Should Maranello still have spare capacity it is likely to supply Alfa-Romeo should Ferrari's cousin get the F1 nod.
Why not Sauber, though, with whom Ferrari enjoys a relationship going back almost 20 years, save for a year or three? Herein lies the conundrum faced by teams such as the Swiss operation, which has a full F1 infrastructure - one arguably too grandiose for current F1's restrictions on windtunnel model sizes, operating hours, and on CFD processing.
It would likely cost Sauber more in mothballs (and staff lay-offs) than any savings that could possibly accrue through going the Haas route, and, while it could be argued the facilities could be used by other industries, the fact is that the bulk of the equipment is F1-specific.
Then there is Renault. True, the yellow team could supply non-listed parts to one or other operations, but the question is: which one? Currently it has a single power unit customer, Red Bull Racing, which, for obvious reasons, is unlikely to sign up for Renault's non-listed parts - particularly given that every one of Renault's four wins since introduction of hybrid engines came courtesy of RBR.
If anything, Renault has issues of its own at present, and, ironically, could be better served by striking a reverse deal with Red Bull Technology. But that would be, of course, a bridge too far for the French car company's executives, even if it brought immediate performance gains.
And Mercedes? The Three Pointed Star enjoys close partnerships with Williams, Force India and Manor. Williams has a full infrastructure and sources only power units from the expansive Mercedes factory in Brixworth, so can be discounted for the same reasons as Sauber; Force India has a manufacturing base and established supply chain to call on for listed parts, sourcing only powertrains and ancillaries from Mercedes.
That leaves Manor as far as Mercedes is concerned. Having emerged from insolvency via a so-called 'company voluntary agreement' its new owners outsource the bulk of design/manufacturing operations. A deal could therefore be cut, but Mercedes would surely demand substantial sureties - which would likely involve personal guarantees from reclusive proprietor Stephen Fitzpatrick. Would the Irishman stump up?
When Manor struck its Petronas fuel arrangement with Mercedes, it pledged its factory leases as bond. Imagine, then, the guarantees required to secure the best parts of a brace of cutting-edge, championship-winning grand prix racecars...
Thus the Haas recipe is difficult to replicate: Well-funded - machine tool magnate Haas easily satisfies Ferrari's fiscal demands - but without extensive facilities of its own, yet technically/politically aligned with a mother team able to supply non-listed parts, including complete powertrains with ancillaries. It also helps that Haas Automation supplies machine tools and sponsorship to Ferrari, plus the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles alliance.
There are those, though, who believe that the Haas model is a walk in the park by F1 standards. Not so. Operating out of three facilities located in as many countries and timezones - race operations in Banbury, England; headquarters in Kannapolis; and design/manufacturing situated at Dallara (not forgetting Ferrari's windtunnel in Maranello) - presents unique challenges, and not only culturally.
For Steiner, whose wife and daughter continue to reside in the USA, a grand prix invariably turns into a week-long, non-stop transatlantic kaleidoscope, taking in side trips to Banbury and Parma plus any number of meetings with suppliers and sponsors. Add in F1 Commission and technical regulation meetings, and it is little wonder his neighbours wonder who this bearded stranger, who comes and goes at all hours, is...
Nor is car design simply a matter of selecting non-listed parts off a big red shelf, then penning bits and pieces to fit around them. As chief designer Rob Taylor explained at Barcelona during his sole visit to a grand prix so far this year, the concept is fraught with unique challenges.
"We try our best to get our communication channels [working]. We're using [software] with a TV screen that's really good. But it takes effort. It's not like walking out of your office and over to the [next] guy, or sat in front of your laptop, looking up and thinking 'Oh, could I go and talk to A' or somebody who's sat over there."
Indeed, Kannapolis has a full 100-seater audio-visual auditorium set up for teleconferencing...
Equally, Ferrari 'freezes' part designs at the last possible moment, only then releasing parts for Haas. "It causes its own little problems, the timing, we absorb a lot of information from Ferrari, but they only give it to us when they know it," explains Taylor, who originally met Steiner in the noughties when they worked for Jaguar.
"So all the parts we purchase, we don't really have a good visibility of them ahead of time. You'd normally be scheming bits and pieces you'd be making yourself; you've got some idea of the concept you're going to be employing before you ever get to the full-blown design.
"With the agreement we have with Ferrari, we don't see some of the parts until they're quite well thought out and coming towards fruition."
Then there is the paperwork issue: Consider how much Ferrari tightened up its security in the wake of 'Spygate', then wonder how complex the simple task of clearing a suspension arm through the front gate is.
"Before the first test we were looking at our watches, waiting for parts to arrive. The actual hardware [arrived] minutes [before the test]. Because they're complex parts, and of course it's a new relationship with Ferrari, having to make more parts and deliver them to a different [user]... even the most mundane things, doing the paperwork to get them out of Maranello is a new piece of paperwork."
All that said, there is a whisper in the paddock that a new team is planning to enter F1 in 2018, using a model similar to that blazed by Haas. Based on the foregoing, the conclusion is that the only team capable (and willing?) to act as 'mother ship' is McLaren - subject, of course, to Honda committing itself long-term to the partnership and, crucially, being prepared to provide power units to a second-tier operation.
Without that guarantee, any McLaren-driven non-listed parts deal is dead in the water. McLaren has, of course, dabbled with similar concepts, having previously provided technical services, including a supply of (Mercedes-compatible) rear ends to Force India - the latter switched Mercedes when McLaren announced its deal with Honda - and more recently as consultant/windtunnel provider to Manor.
It will prove fascinating to follow the rumours as they develop, for clearly, then, the Haas concept is ideally suited to incoming teams but not existing operations. This business model, meritorious as it is, is not the silver bullet so desperately required by the independents, and therefore cannot be held up as F1's next big thing.
*LISTED PARTS
Monocoque
Survival cell as defined in article 1.14 of the F1 technical regulations
Front impact structures used to meet the requirements of articles 16.2 and 16.3 of the F1 technical regulations
Roll over structures - roll structures as regulated by article 15.2 of the F1 technical regulations
Bodywork as defined in article 1.4 of the F1 technical regulations and regulated by article 3 of the F1 technical regulations with the exception of airboxes, engine exhausts and any prescribed bodywork geometries
Wings
Floor
Diffuser
It was just over a year ago that Autosport paid an exclusive visit to the nascent Haas Formula 1 team's base in Charlotte, USA to report on the progress made since machine tool magnate Gene Haas had been granted one of F1's vacant grid slots in April 2014. As outlined at the time, the team intended sourcing non-listed parts from Ferrari, having entered into a technical arrangement with the Italian team.
The visit marked the first time team principal Guenther Steiner, he of Ford World Rally Championship, Jaguar Racing F1 and Red Bull NASCAR fame, revealed exactly how the co-operation would work. He stressed that the 'Haas way' depended upon the team's interpretation of the F1 regulations, which demand that teams own the intellectual property to certain (listed*) parts, but are free to source the balance elsewhere.
Five races into its maiden season, the first American team to hit the grid in 30 years lays sixth in the title hunt with 22 points, ahead of such as Force India, McLaren and Renault - a maiden season performance that shades every other new team over the past two decades (at least), including Toyota.
As expected, there is much grumbling - mainly from the trounced - about a concept that enabled Haas to mix it with such as Toro Rosso and Force India from the off, despite operating with vastly less personnel. This, though, raises an elementary question: Why then don't existing teams 'do a Haas' by sourcing non-listed hardware from a 'mother' team?
The answer is simple: They can't. And for good reasons.
The Haas model is predicated on a long-term contract between a team willing (and able) to supply a well-funded secondary - for which read subservient - operation with non-listed parts, complete powertrains (including transmissions), and electronics/hydraulics in the long term, plus provide updates and new data as soon as designs are frozen. That alone is a big ask.
Haas's listed parts are produced by Dallara in Parma, Italy, saving Haas the cost (and timeline) of establishing its own design/engineering/manufacturing base - but the downside is that Haas does not 'own' the project in the traditional sense, being utterly dependent upon outside suppliers, whether for listed or non-listed parts.
Indeed, at present, the team produces only its own garage tooling and equipment, and windtunnel models - in Kannapolis, in the shadow of the Stewart-Haas NASCAR operation and in close proximity to the state-of-art Gene Haas-owned Windshear windtunnel. This base also serves as nerve centre and administrative headquarters of the F1 team.
However, as things stand, three current teams meet the supply criteria: Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault. McLaren-Honda could be added to the mix provided the Japanese commitment is long-term. Forget not that in 2008 Honda exited with scant notice to staff. Another such move would pull down any secondary operation. One of the requirements is that the 'mother ship' be in a position to guarantee long-term stability.
Previously, two teams had dabbled on the fringes of a Haas-type relationship, albeit serviced by an outside power unit supplier: Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso, both owned by Red Bull and powered by Renault. The teams shared a variety of componets, including gearbox, but Toro Rosso's move to Ferrari after a spate of Renault failures has increased its level of independence.
Ironically Red Bull owner Diedrich Mateschitz had originally acquired STR with a view to supplying his second-tier team with Red Bull Racing componentry - Red Bull Technology was established for that purpose. But for various reasons, including an apparent failure to interpret the regulations as Haas did, the plan came to nought, with the Italian squad gradually expanding its Faenza (ex-Minardi) base at significant expense.
Of the main trio of constructors, Ferrari has its hands full, what with president Sergio Marchionne demanding a return to title-winning form sooner rather than later, plus Haas. Should Maranello still have spare capacity it is likely to supply Alfa-Romeo should Ferrari's cousin get the F1 nod.
Why not Sauber, though, with whom Ferrari enjoys a relationship going back almost 20 years, save for a year or three? Herein lies the conundrum faced by teams such as the Swiss operation, which has a full F1 infrastructure - one arguably too grandiose for current F1's restrictions on windtunnel model sizes, operating hours, and on CFD processing.
It would likely cost Sauber more in mothballs (and staff lay-offs) than any savings that could possibly accrue through going the Haas route, and, while it could be argued the facilities could be used by other industries, the fact is that the bulk of the equipment is F1-specific.
Then there is Renault. True, the yellow team could supply non-listed parts to one or other operations, but the question is: which one? Currently it has a single power unit customer, Red Bull Racing, which, for obvious reasons, is unlikely to sign up for Renault's non-listed parts - particularly given that every one of Renault's four wins since introduction of hybrid engines came courtesy of RBR.
If anything, Renault has issues of its own at present, and, ironically, could be better served by striking a reverse deal with Red Bull Technology. But that would be, of course, a bridge too far for the French car company's executives, even if it brought immediate performance gains.
And Mercedes? The Three Pointed Star enjoys close partnerships with Williams, Force India and Manor. Williams has a full infrastructure and sources only power units from the expansive Mercedes factory in Brixworth, so can be discounted for the same reasons as Sauber; Force India has a manufacturing base and established supply chain to call on for listed parts, sourcing only powertrains and ancillaries from Mercedes.
That leaves Manor as far as Mercedes is concerned. Having emerged from insolvency via a so-called 'company voluntary agreement' its new owners outsource the bulk of design/manufacturing operations. A deal could therefore be cut, but Mercedes would surely demand substantial sureties - which would likely involve personal guarantees from reclusive proprietor Stephen Fitzpatrick. Would the Irishman stump up?
When Manor struck its Petronas fuel arrangement with Mercedes, it pledged its factory leases as bond. Imagine, then, the guarantees required to secure the best parts of a brace of cutting-edge, championship-winning grand prix racecars...
Thus the Haas recipe is difficult to replicate: Well-funded - machine tool magnate Haas easily satisfies Ferrari's fiscal demands - but without extensive facilities of its own, yet technically/politically aligned with a mother team able to supply non-listed parts, including complete powertrains with ancillaries. It also helps that Haas Automation supplies machine tools and sponsorship to Ferrari, plus the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles alliance.
There are those, though, who believe that the Haas model is a walk in the park by F1 standards. Not so. Operating out of three facilities located in as many countries and timezones - race operations in Banbury, England; headquarters in Kannapolis; and design/manufacturing situated at Dallara (not forgetting Ferrari's windtunnel in Maranello) - presents unique challenges, and not only culturally.
For Steiner, whose wife and daughter continue to reside in the USA, a grand prix invariably turns into a week-long, non-stop transatlantic kaleidoscope, taking in side trips to Banbury and Parma plus any number of meetings with suppliers and sponsors. Add in F1 Commission and technical regulation meetings, and it is little wonder his neighbours wonder who this bearded stranger, who comes and goes at all hours, is...
Nor is car design simply a matter of selecting non-listed parts off a big red shelf, then penning bits and pieces to fit around them. As chief designer Rob Taylor explained at Barcelona during his sole visit to a grand prix so far this year, the concept is fraught with unique challenges.
"We try our best to get our communication channels [working]. We're using [software] with a TV screen that's really good. But it takes effort. It's not like walking out of your office and over to the [next] guy, or sat in front of your laptop, looking up and thinking 'Oh, could I go and talk to A' or somebody who's sat over there."
Indeed, Kannapolis has a full 100-seater audio-visual auditorium set up for teleconferencing...
Equally, Ferrari 'freezes' part designs at the last possible moment, only then releasing parts for Haas. "It causes its own little problems, the timing, we absorb a lot of information from Ferrari, but they only give it to us when they know it," explains Taylor, who originally met Steiner in the noughties when they worked for Jaguar.
"So all the parts we purchase, we don't really have a good visibility of them ahead of time. You'd normally be scheming bits and pieces you'd be making yourself; you've got some idea of the concept you're going to be employing before you ever get to the full-blown design.
"With the agreement we have with Ferrari, we don't see some of the parts until they're quite well thought out and coming towards fruition."
Then there is the paperwork issue: Consider how much Ferrari tightened up its security in the wake of 'Spygate', then wonder how complex the simple task of clearing a suspension arm through the front gate is.
"Before the first test we were looking at our watches, waiting for parts to arrive. The actual hardware [arrived] minutes [before the test]. Because they're complex parts, and of course it's a new relationship with Ferrari, having to make more parts and deliver them to a different [user]... even the most mundane things, doing the paperwork to get them out of Maranello is a new piece of paperwork."
All that said, there is a whisper in the paddock that a new team is planning to enter F1 in 2018, using a model similar to that blazed by Haas. Based on the foregoing, the conclusion is that the only team capable (and willing?) to act as 'mother ship' is McLaren - subject, of course, to Honda committing itself long-term to the partnership and, crucially, being prepared to provide power units to a second-tier operation.
Without that guarantee, any McLaren-driven non-listed parts deal is dead in the water. McLaren has, of course, dabbled with similar concepts, having previously provided technical services, including a supply of (Mercedes-compatible) rear ends to Force India - the latter switched Mercedes when McLaren announced its deal with Honda - and more recently as consultant/windtunnel provider to Manor.
It will prove fascinating to follow the rumours as they develop, for clearly, then, the Haas concept is ideally suited to incoming teams but not existing operations. This business model, meritorious as it is, is not the silver bullet so desperately required by the independents, and therefore cannot be held up as F1's next big thing.
*LISTED PARTS
Monocoque
Survival cell as defined in article 1.14 of the F1 technical regulations
Front impact structures used to meet the requirements of articles 16.2 and 16.3 of the F1 technical regulations
Roll over structures - roll structures as regulated by article 15.2 of the F1 technical regulations
Bodywork as defined in article 1.4 of the F1 technical regulations and regulated by article 3 of the F1 technical regulations with the exception of airboxes, engine exhausts and any prescribed bodywork geometries
Wings
Floor
Diffuser
