NASCAR Sprint Cup car owner Gene Haas has applied to own a Formula 1 team, Stewart-Haas Racing confirmed Thursday. A report on the German website auto motor und sport reported that Haas is one of three new applicants to field a Formula 1 team as soon as 2015. ‘We have responded to the FIA’s ‘call for expression of interest’ regarding a Formula One entry on behalf of Haas Racing Development,’ co-owner Gene Haas said in a statement. ‘We respect the FIA’s evaluation process and will share more details in the coming weeks.’ Haas is founder of Haas Automation, the largest CNC machine tool builder in the western world. The FIA issued its ‘call for expression of interest’ in November. It’s a new selection process to identify a new team to compete in Formula 1 at the start of the 2015 or ’16 season. Applicants had to file paperwork and submit an administrative fee of $5,000. Responses were due Jan. 3. The German website reported that Haas’ plans are to design a car in-house but to have it initially designed by Dallara. Ferrari would be the engine partner. Former Red Bull team manager Guenther Steiner would oversee the team.(Motor Racing Network)(1-16-2014)
UPDATE: Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone does not think multi-millionaire NASCAR team owner Gene Haas can afford to enter Formula One in 2015. A published report by the Sporting News on Jan. 16 estimated that Haas’s net worth was $740 million in 2011. The business partner in NASCAR’s Stewart-Haas racing operation announced recently that he has responded to the FIA’s ‘call for expressions of interest’ in filling the vacant slot in pit lane. In addition to his NASCAR operation, Haas heads one of the best wind tunnels in the world, and according to the German media outlet Auto Motor und Sport, he would start in F1 with a healthy three-digit million budget. But F1 chief executive Ecclestone told Racer he thinks it ‘most unlikely’ Haas will enter F1, because of the sport’s huge costs. ‘They (Haas) have been talking about it for three years,’ F1 business journalist Caroline Reid quoted Ecclestone as saying. ‘Somebody can have $10 billion in the bank, but it doesn’t mean they are going to spend it.’(Autoweek)(1-25-2014)
UPDATE: He was speaking at NASCAR’s annual Sprint Cup media tour, but most of the questions directed toward Gene Haas involved Formula One. On Monday, Haas repeated his desire to form America’s first F1 entrant since Penske Racing competed in the world’s premier form of motorsports from a base in England from 1974 to 1978. He is determined to field a start-up team out of the Charlotte area, most likely from a new facility that would be built on land he owns near Kannapolis, N.C. ‘We’ve looked at buying a team, but there are problems associated with that,’ Haas told ESPN.com. ‘First of all, it’s tremendously expensive, with a lot of existing personnel you’re responsible for. Some of them have a lot of debt you would have to pay off. So they all have their issues. ‘Starting our own team has its problems too, but the good thing is that it would be an American team,’ he added. ‘That really was the No. 1 fundamental priority ‘ to have an American team competing in a European series.’ Haas acknowledged that one problem he needs to overcome is the stigma left by USF1, an attempt at starting an American F1 team in 2009 that was granted entry to the 2010 F1 season but never came close to getting off the ground. NASCAR star Tony Stewart, the co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, voiced his support for his partner’s efforts to break into F1 ‘ though he quickly clarified that he is not part of the proposed team. Haas said the next deadline for the application process is Feb. 10, and he expects to learn by the end of March whether he will be able to move ahead with his plans for an American Formula One team. ‘We have a shot,’ he said. ‘I don’t think it’s a great shot; it could go either way. Bernie is always encouraging, but I think he’s a little skeptical about whether we could really do it. He’s seen teams make these applications that fail, and I don’t think he wants to go through that again.’(ESPN)(1-28-2014)
