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Haas F1 Team
American Formula One team From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Haas Formula LLC,[8] competing as MoneyGram Haas F1 Team,[9][10] is an American-licensed[11] Formula One racing team established by NASCAR Cup Series team owner Gene Haas in April 2014. The team made its debut in the 2016 season.[12] The team principal is Ayao Komatsu, who replaced Guenther Steiner who served in the role from the team's inception until January 2024.
The team is headquartered in Kannapolis, North Carolina, United States – 31 mi (50 km) from Charlotte[1] – alongside sister team and NASCAR entrant Haas Factory Team, though the two teams are separate entities. The team also established a forward base in Banbury, England, to turn cars around between races during the European part of the calendar.[3] The team maintains a design office in Maranello, which is also home to Scuderia Ferrari's headquarters.[13]
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History
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Preparations
Haas was the first American constructor to submit an F1 entry after the failed US F1 project in 2010,[14] and is the first American constructor to compete since the unrelated Haas Lola outfit raced in the 1985 and 1986 seasons. The Haas Lola team was owned by former McLaren boss Teddy Mayer and Carl Haas, who was not related to Gene Haas.
Following the collapse of Marussia F1 during the 2014 season and the auctioning of their assets, Haas purchased the team's Banbury headquarters to serve as a forward base for their operations.[15]
Unrestricted by testing regulations until the time they actually entered Formula One, Haas shook its new car down in December 2015 ahead of official pre-season testing at Barcelona in early 2016.[16] Haas approached Italian manufacturer Dallara to build their chassis, with a power unit supplied by Ferrari.[3][17] Former Jaguar and Red Bull Racing technical director Guenther Steiner was the team principal for 10 years until 2024.[3] Haas confirmed its new car had passed the mandatory FIA crash tests in January 2016.[18]
Relationship with other teams
Ferrari
Haas's approach of establishing a far-reaching partnership with Ferrari was met with a mixed response from the paddock. The constructor was applauded for pioneering a low-cost model that would allow new teams to enter the sport and be competitive, which had been of concern to the sport for some years.[19] Conversely, Haas's approach was criticized by smaller, privateer teams who had invested in their own infrastructure and expressed concerns about the close relationship between manufacturers and satellite constructors handing more political power to the sport's larger constructors.[20]
In 2018, Haas once again came under fire after arriving at winter testing with a car that strongly resembled the Ferrari SF70H, Ferrari's 2017 car. Competitors McLaren and Force India both criticized the partnership between Ferrari and Haas. While no official grievances were filed at the time, McLaren CEO Zak Brown questioned the relationship.[21]
During rule discussions for the 2021 season in April 2019, concerns over Haas F1's B-team approach were presented by Renault and McLaren. Ross Brawn, F1's managing director of motorsport at the time, stated that Haas' business model was "...something we have to maintain for the future, for a small team to come in and be pretty respectable."[22]
Haas have also depended on Ferrari for their reserve drivers. They have completed numerous practice sessions with Ferrari reserve drivers and Ferrari Driver Academy members such as Charles Leclerc, Antonio Giovinazzi, Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman. Former Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman, who joined the team in 2025, also participated in an FP1 session for Haas and substituted for Kevin Magnussen following his race ban at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix and at the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix after Magnussen withdrew due to illness. Additionally, during his tenure at the team, Mick Schumacher was still a Ferrari Driver Academy member and Ferrari reserve driver.
Toyota
In October 2024, Haas announced a technical partnership with Toyota, although engines would continue to be provided by Ferrari. This would see the team integrate the services of Toyota Gazoo Racing, with the Toyota name associated with the sport for the first time in 15 years, ever since they withdrew at the end of 2009 season.[23][24] In April 2025, as part of their technical partnership, Haas signed Toyota driver Ryō Hirakawa as their test driver for the 2025 season.[25]
2016 season
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Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutiérrez drove for the team in 2016.[26][27] In the team's debut at the opening Australian Grand Prix, Grosjean finished 6th, scoring eight points for the team. This made Haas the first American constructor to win points in its first F1 race.[28] At the same race, Gutiérrez crashed out during an incident which destroyed former world champion Fernando Alonso's McLaren and caused the race to be temporarily red-flagged.[29] Another impressive race followed in Bahrain, where Grosjean finished 5th. However, for the rest of the season, the team fell off the pace, only scoring points on three more occasions. Grosjean picked up all 29 points en route to 8th in the Constructors' Championship.
2017 season
Kevin Magnussen drove alongside Grosjean in 2017, replacing Gutiérrez.[30] In the first race of the season, the team scored its best-ever qualifying effort, with Grosjean piloting the VF-17 to 6th place. However, in the race, both cars were forced to retire with mechanical failures.[31][32][33] The second race weekend proved better for the team with Magnussen finishing 8th, scoring his first points since his 10th-place finish at the 2016 Singapore Grand Prix, and Haas's first points since the 2016 United States Grand Prix, where Grosjean finished 10th.[34][35]
The team's success would continue in 2017 as Haas would go on to have their first double points finish in Monaco, with Grosjean and Magnussen finishing 8th and 10th respectively. The team finished 8th in the constructors' title for the second consecutive year after being surpassed by Renault during the final races.[36]
2018 season
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In February 2018, Haas unveiled their new car, the VF-18, although not without controversy. Some competitors called for an investigation due to its resemblance to the previous year's Ferrari, the SF70H.[21][37]
Following a strong showing during winter testing, Haas had a competitive weekend in Australia with Magnussen starting 5th and Grosjean 6th.[38] During the race, the two drivers were running in 4th and 5th, which would have given them the team's best result since its inception and half of their 2017 points tally, but both cars retired one lap after their respective pit stops. Gunther Steiner later stated in an interview that the pit-stop crew had cross-threaded the wheel nuts on both cars.[39] The team would eventually match this 4th and 5th-place result in Austria, surpassing their 2017 points total after only nine races. At the Singapore Grand Prix, Magnussen scored Haas' first-ever fastest lap.[40] 2018 was their best season to date, finishing fifth in the Constructors' Championship, one point short of doubling their previous year's performance.
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2019 season
The team retained their 2018 driver line up for the third consecutive year, consisting of Grosjean and Magnussen.[41] The team also took on Rich Energy as a title sponsor for 2019 as part of the activation of a multi-year title sponsorship deal with Rich Energy, a British energy drink company that was previously linked to an attempted to purchase Force India.[42]
The VF-19 often showed impressive pace during qualifying but struggled during the race. At the opening race in Australia, Magnussen finished 6th in what would eventually be the team's best season result. The team's qualifying pace was evident in Austria, where Magnussen recorded the 5th-fastest time but finished the race in 19th with Grosjean 16th. In July, just four days before the British Grand Prix, the Rich Energy Twitter account announced that the sponsorship deal with Haas had been terminated, citing "poor performance".[43] This was later denied by both the team and Rich Energy's shareholders, who asserted that the tweet was the result of a "rogue" individual.[44] For the British Grand Prix, the team elected to reverse the upgrades placed on Grosjean's car, using the same specification run in Australia, to determine the causes of the car's poor race pace. However, both drivers collided with each other on the first lap, causing a double retirement.[45] The German Grand Prix provided the team's best-combined result of the season, being classified 7th and 8th after post-race penalties for other drivers.
Title sponsor Rich Energy faced numerous legal issues during the year, including being found to have plagiarized the logo of bicycle manufacturer Whyte Bikes. In September, a day after the Italian Grand Prix, Rich Energy announced the termination of the deal with Haas with immediate effect.[46] The team earned no points for the race at Monza, with Grosjean finishing only 16th and Magnussen retiring.
Haas finished the season in 9th place in the Constructor's Championship with 28 points.
2020 season
Haas one again kept an unchanged lineup of Grosjean and Magnussen for the 2020 season.[47]
On the opening lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Grosjean collided with AlphaTauri driver Daniil Kvyat and crashed through the barriers between turns 3 and 4. The impact resulted in the car splitting in two and bursting into flames. Grosjean escaped significant injury, suffering burns on his hands, and was hospitalized after the race. He remarked that the halo head protection device likely saved his life.[48] The crash ruled him out for the rest of the season, with reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi driving in his place at Sakhir and Abu Dhabi.
During the season, Haas scored 3 points, with Magnussen finishing 9th in Hungary but receiving a time penalty that would drop him to 10th, and Grosjean finishing 9th in the Eifel Grand Prix. The team would not score again, finishing 9th in the Constructor's Championship.[49][50]
2021 season
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Grosjean and Magnussen left Haas at the end of the 2020 Championship.[51] They were replaced by Russian Nikita Mazepin,[52] and 2020 Formula 2 Championship winner Mick Schumacher,[53] son of seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher. To survive financially, the team opted to halt the development of the 2021 car, instead focusing resources on the 2022 car. They also secured Uralkali, a Russian potash fertilizer producer, of which Mazepin's father Dmitry is a key shareholder, as the title sponsor for the team. Uralkali's sponsorship resulted in a livery containing the colors of the Russian flag. Steiner denied this was to circumvent a World Anti-Doping Agency ban on the use of the Russian flag and anthem following a state-sponsored doping scandal in the country.[9][54][55]
During the first race, Mazepin spun out on the first lap, while Schumacher finished 16th in his debut, the last of all running cars. In the season's final race, Mazepin tested positive for coronavirus and was ruled out of the race. Haas would only field one driver, rather than replace Mazepin with reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi, as he had not fulfilled the requirement of having competed in a practice session for the team. Haas finished 10th in the Constructor's Championship scoring 0 points over the season, the team's worst finish since their founding in 2016 and their lowest ever points total.
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2022 season
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Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Haas removed the branding of Russian sponsor Uralkali from its cars and the colors of the Russian flag. On March 5, the team announced it had terminated its title sponsorship deal with Uralkali and its driver contract with Mazepin.[10] Kevin Magnussen, who previously drove for the team from 2017 to 2020, was announced as his replacement.[56]
Haas's decision to focus on building the VF-22 throughout the 2021 season resulted in the car proving to be competitive among the mid-field teams. With Magnussen returning, Haas scored in the first two races of the season, with Magnussen finishing in 5th and 9th-place at the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Schumacher failed to score points in Bahrain and did not start in Saudi Arabia due to a crash in qualifying. The following races saw both Magnussen and Schumacher fail to score points and even finish the race as despite their high starting position after qualifying.
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After a points drought, Haas took a double points finish at the 2022 British Grand Prix with Magnussen finishing 10th and Schumacher 8th; his first-ever point finish as a Formula One driver and the first double-point finish for Haas after three years. The momentum was maintained by Magnussen finishing 8th and Schumacher finishing 6th in the following race in Austrian Grand Prix. The team also took their maiden pole position at the 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix, with Magnussen out-qualifying the field in changing conditions to start on pole. Magnussen later retired after a collision with McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo at the start of the race.
The team's two back-to-back double points finishes placed Haas eighth in the Constructors' Championship. Mick Schumacher departed from Haas at the end of the season.[57]
2023 season
Haas signed a title sponsorship deal with MoneyGram for the 2023 season onwards.[58]
Nico Hülkenberg's Formula One return was announced prior to the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, partnering Magnussen for the 2023 season.[59] Early 2023, Haas also announced that Pietro Fittipaldi remained as the team's official test and reserve driver for 2023 for a fifth consecutive season, participating in the development of the VF-23.[60]
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At the Canadian Grand Prix, Hülkenberg achieved what would've been the team's best qualifying position of the season when he set the second fastest time during a wet qualifying session. After McLaren's Oscar Piastri crashed earlier in the session, bringing out the red flag, the rest of the grid were not able to improve on their qualifying times as the rain got heavier. However, Hülkenberg was handed a three-place grid penalty for a red flag infraction and would start the race in fifth position. Magnussen would start the race in 14th position.[61][62]
Haas finished the season 10th in the Constructor's Championship with 12 points. While the team scored numerous top 10 qualifying positions, the VF-23's high tyre wear meant its drivers would slip down the order during races. The most notable example of this was Nico Hülkenberg's performance at the Canadian Grand Prix. Due to the VF-23's aggressive tyre wear, Hülkenberg had slipped down to 15th place by the chequered flag. Haas scored points just 5 times during the season with Hülkenberg's 7th-place finish at the Australian Grand Prix being the team's best finish of the season.
2024 season
In August 2023, Haas announced that its 2023 driver line-up of Hülkenberg and Magnussen would be retained for the 2024 season.[63] Team principal Guenther Steiner's contract was not renewed, with the position being filled by engineer Ayao Komatsu on January 10. Technical director Simone Resta also departed.[64]
In August 2024, it was reported, by a Swiss arbitrator, that Haas has to reimburse US$9 million to former title sponsor Uralkali for the cancelled sponsorship contract two months prior. This resulted in Dutch bailiffs and police entering the Haas paddock during the Dutch Grand Prix weekend to valuate their assets for Uralkali to potentially seize, should the company did not receive payment by August 26. On August 23, Gene Haas confirmed that the team has made the payment but it was complicated by the Russian sanctions. On August 26, Uralkali confirmed the receipt of the payment and Haas was allowed to leave for the Italian Grand Prix.[65][66][67]
Magnussen received two penalty points for causing a collision at the Italian Grand Prix, taking his total to twelve points in twelve months and triggering a one race ban. Reserve driver Oliver Bearman replaced him for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.[68]
On October 11, Haas and Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) signed a technical partnership, where TGR would provide design, technical and manufacturing services in exchange for Haas' technical expertise and commercial benefits.[69]
Haas finished the season in seventh place, after double-podium for Alpine dropped them down from sixth. The team scored 58 points, the most they had scored since 2018.
2025 season
Hülkenberg and Magnussen departed the team after the 2024 season; the former re-joined Kick Sauber and was replaced by Formula 2 graduate and former reserve driver Oliver Bearman, The first time that Haas has taken on a rookie driver since the pairing of Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher in 2021.[70][71][72] The latter was replaced by Esteban Ocon, who departed Alpine after five seasons with Team Enstone.[73]
The season's opening race in Melbourne was an unwelcome surprise for Haas.[74] In qualifying, Ocon was last of the classified drivers in P19 with teammate Bearman not being classified due to gearbox issues. In the race, despite rain and chaotic conditions, both drivers were again at the back of the pack finishing P13 and P14 as the last of the classified drivers.
At the second race in China, both drivers were able to score points with Ocon and Bearman crossing the line in P7 and P10 respectively.[75] This marked the first points of the season for the team, the first points for Ocon with Haas and with a Ferrari power unit, and the first double points finish for Haas since Mexico. After the race, Scuderia Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, as well as Alpine's Pierre Gasly were disqualified. This promoted Ocon and Bearman to P5 and P8 respectively.[75]
Complete Formula One results
Key
- Notes
- * – Season still in progress.
- † – The driver did not finish the Grand Prix but was classified, as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
Esports
Complete F1 Esports Series results
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Driver development program
Since the team's foundation, multiple drivers have been affiliated with Haas. These include:
Notes
- Nikita Mazepin is Russian, but he competed as a neutral competitor using the designation RAF (Russian Automobile Federation), as the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a ban on Russia competing at World Championships. The ban was implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency in response to state-sponsored doping program of Russian athletes.[76]
References
External links
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