Gene Haas considers buying an existing team

Gene Haas has admitted he would have been better off buying an existing Formula 1 team rather than establishing his squad as a completely new entry.

This year Haas F1 joined forces with Ferrari to become the first new arrival on the grand prix grid since the debuts of the teams then known as Lotus, Virgin and Hispania at the start of 2010.

Though it bought the former Marussia factory in Banbury as a European base, it chose not to acquire the team’s entry.

The American outfit’s founder admitted Bernie Ecclestone had strongly advised him to acquire one of the teams already in the field rather than starting from scratch.

“Bernie was always saying ‘why don’t you just buy an existing team?’, which was actually a better idea because there were only 10 teams at the time so economically it would’ve been a lot more beneficial,” Haas told Autosport.

“Bernie was probably right because there are so many advantages when you’re a top 10 team.”

Haas conceded the financial bonuses on offer to teams ranked in the top 10 in recent constructors’ championships would have been helpful had he taken Ecclestone’s advice.

“Not only do you get ‘column A’ money but you also get freight and airline tickets for the team,” he said.

“There is a lot of financial help for the teams once they’ve been established.”

Haas secured an F1 entry for 2015 originally, but opted to delay its arrival until ’16.

It is the first squad to take advantage of the ‘listed parts’ rules dispensation that reduces the amount of components teams have to design themselves, with Haas receiving a complete drivetrain and suspension from Ferrari.

Team chairman Haas recently suggested Ferrari had been more hesitant than he would have liked in how much help it was willing to offer within the regulations.

Category: Formula One