Earlier this year, CNC machine manufacturer Haas Automation Owner and co-Owner of Stewart-Haas Racing GENE HAAS "was granted a license to compete" in F1, with its teams beginning competition in the '16 season, according to Jim Utter of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. The bulk of the Haas F1 organization "will be based in Kannapolis, part of a 125,000-square-foot expansion of the SHR headquarters." Haas F1 will become the first U.S.-based F1 team since Parnelli Jones Racing in '74-76. Haas said that "he expected to have the first cars assembled in November 2015 and on the track testing in January 2016." On Wednesday, Haas discussed "the progress of his F1 organization."
Q: How do you go about hiring people for an F1 organization and get them to the Charlotte area?
Gene Haas: We really haven’t gone on a hiring spree. The first thing we did was align ourselves with partners we thought would work the best for us. It took us almost six months to figure out the Ferrari relationship. Once we got that down, then a lot more pieces of the puzzle fit.
Q: In the F1 community, do they think you’re crazy for wanting to base the operation here?
Haas: Well, they’re all crazy. I don’t think anybody really thinks anything you do is crazy because, let’s face it, the (other teams) are really all over the map. You got the Ferrari guys operating out of Maranello (Italy), you have the Russian teams operating out of London, you got Sauber, which is based in Switzerland and Red Bull in Italy and England. It’s pretty common for these teams to be spread out.
Q: Has there ever been a step along the way where you had second thoughts about going through with this endeavor?
Haas: Actually, the further along I get, the better I feel about things. I think it makes sense from a business standpoint and also makes sense from a racing standpoint. I’ve been involved in a successful NASCAR team. I have a lot of experience there. I have a wind tunnel where we can do our scale model testing. I have a successful business involved in manufacturing. All those things seem to say that Formula One is a natural stepping stone toward the ultimate event (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 10/8).
