Haas aim for points with their ‘very first’ F1 car

The Haas F1 Team released photos of its first Formula One machine Sunday morning, the VF-16. “I think we have some work to do mechanically to set the vehicle up and get on our way”.

Haas, a longtime industrialist, founded his NASCAR team in 2002, and in 2009 brought driver Tony Stewart aboard in a co-owner role. Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation, added “F1” to the name to unofficially designate it as the company’s “Very First One”.

Haas are Formula One’s first completely new team since 2010, when Lotus Racing, Hispania and Virgin Racing made their debuts.

Aside from potential power unit alterations, Haas feels his auto now on show will not be too far removed from the one that will be seen in Australia.

Haas said the goal for 2016 is to score points and earn the respect from fans and other teams.

“I love it, I’m passionate about racing even before being a Formula One driver”, Grosjean said.

“It’s something that we know how to do and I think it’s something that we can do well”, Haas said at the Circuit de Barcelona. “To see that all the teams are in the same area and the statue of Dale Earnhardt, it’s big and I really like it”.

After losing his race seat at Sauber for 2015, Gutierrez spent the season as third and reserve driver at Ferrari behind Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel before making the switch to the new Haas F1 squad.

Haas F1 Team has offices in Kannapolis, North Carolina, but he took his F1 operations to Banbury in England and Parma in Italy. We enjoy working with passionate people like Haas who are prepared for new adventures and break the mould of the expected, much in the same way our brand is always extending into new and exciting adventures in watchmaking.

“Having the auto branded under our name is good for our product line, but if the right sponsor comes along we’re definitely going to listen”.

Matt Beer of autosport.com noted that Haas has put together an experienced engineering team for their maiden Formula One term, including former Red Bull man Gunther Steiner as the team principal.