Haas F1 Team Thread

S951 · Post by **S951** » 16 Jan 2014, 19:14

I'd be happy to see Kolles back he managed to work things on a budget for 2 years and keep things ticking over, will be interesting to see this time though who would be doing the car what kind of sponsors they'd have etc. No doubt he will have pay drivers galore now the fun part is IF he got a spot who would he be hiring who be knocking on his door

Post by **Londoner** » 16 Jan 2014, 19:18

Gene Haas got done for tax evasion a few years back, and we all know how open, trustworthy and legit Stefanovic is, so that leaves Kolles as the bloke with the cleanest record here.

Goodness knows how Stefanovic thinks he has a legit chance of having a team. Didn't he try to sue the FIA when they rejected Stefan in favour of Manor/Campos/USF1 back in 2009?

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 16 Jan 2014, 19:37

Great news!

Adam Cooper wrote:A Romanian-funded project is among one of the three potential new F1 teams involved in the 2015 entry tender process.[...]Former Force India and HRT boss Colin Kolles is involved, [...] It’s worth speculating that one of the parties involved in the project could be Renault-owned car manufacturer Dacia, whose name could be used to badge a Renault F1 engine.

S951 · Post by **S951** » 16 Jan 2014, 20:10

Dacia Racing Team?

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 16 Jan 2014, 20:21

GO HOME MAN SERIOUSLY

Post by **mario** » 16 Jan 2014, 20:27

GwilymJJames wrote:AMuS reports that there are 3 bids: Gene Haas Racing, Colin Kolles and, best of all, ZORAN STEFANOVIC

And now it is not merely a rumour but an official statement of fact that Gene Haas has submitted an application to the FIA, with further details of his application due in the upcoming weeks. http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/motorsport/story/141933.html

andrew2209 · Post by **andrew2209** » 16 Jan 2014, 20:59

If Gene Haas could do a better job than USF1 (which even much of an achievement, I mean at least Andrea Moda actually got to the grid), then it could help F1 develop in that area of the world.

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 16 Jan 2014, 21:13

GwilymJJames wrote:Great news!

Adam Cooper wrote:A Romanian-funded project is among one of the three potential new F1 teams involved in the 2015 entry tender process.[...]Former Force India and HRT boss Colin Kolles is involved, [...] It’s worth speculating that one of the parties involved in the project could be Renault-owned car manufacturer Dacia, whose name could be used to badge a Renault F1 engine.

Oh wow, I am definitely 100% in favour of this project now!

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 16 Jan 2014, 21:25

Backmarker wrote:
GwilymJJames wrote:Great news!

Adam Cooper wrote:A Romanian-funded project is among one of the three potential new F1 teams involved in the 2015 entry tender process.[...]Former Force India and HRT boss Colin Kolles is involved, [...] It’s worth speculating that one of the parties involved in the project could be Renault-owned car manufacturer Dacia, whose name could be used to badge a Renault F1 engine.

Oh wow, I am definitely 100% in favour of this project now!

I think that either Marussia or Caterham will be gone after this season, so I think that the FIA should accept the two best bids, and I'm in full favor of this one. Although Kolles knows how to keep a team running, but maybe not best for motivation, so I have concerns there. But it may be legit. I don't know.

However, I'd like to see Stefan make it onto the grid. Despite their unprofessionalism, they've tried for so long to get in, but haven't gotten the job done. I think Zoran's artitude may downgrade them to the bottom.

Haas looks like the best bet at an entry. They're successful in the US, have great experience with the Stewart and Newman teams, and know how to win championships. I think they'll be able to be decent to say the least.

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 16 Jan 2014, 22:36

Backmarker wrote:
GwilymJJames wrote:Great news!

Adam Cooper wrote:A Romanian-funded project is among one of the three potential new F1 teams involved in the 2015 entry tender process.[...]Former Force India and HRT boss Colin Kolles is involved, [...] It’s worth speculating that one of the parties involved in the project could be Renault-owned car manufacturer Dacia, whose name could be used to badge a Renault F1 engine.

Oh wow, I am definitely 100% in favour of this project now!

James May is probably doing a victory dance right now :lol:

pher38 · Post by **pher38** » 16 Jan 2014, 22:59

Does anyone know if there are officially one or two positions on the grid up for grabs? I know the official limit is 13 teams...It would be daft to turn away a perfectly good bid and only choose one new team for 2015. We need full F1 grids with competitive cars to produce more racing and interest, and with a budget cap hopefully we can have a full competitive grid with no-one confined to the back as Caterham and Marussia have been over the last few years, simply on budget.

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 16 Jan 2014, 23:12

pher38 wrote:Does anyone know if there are officially one or two positions on the grid up for grabs? I know the official limit is 13 teams...It would be daft to turn away a perfectly good bid and only choose one new team for 2015. We need full F1 grids with competitive cars to produce more racing and interest, and with a budget cap hopefully we can have a full competitive grid with no-one confined to the back at Caterham and Marussia have been over the last few years, simply on budget.

Not to mention improved chances for talented drivers to make it to the grid on merit.

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 16 Jan 2014, 23:36

roblomas52 wrote:James May is probably doing a victory dance right now

Specifically, this one.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 17 Jan 2014, 02:02

Haas has confirmed he lodged an entry, for what it's worth. Where the bathplug did that come from?

OsellaFA1L · Post by **OsellaFA1L** » 17 Jan 2014, 02:22

Super Zoran is back...

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 17 Jan 2014, 10:56

Unlike everyone else who supports Zoran's bid just because he really sounds like a new Andrea Sassetti, I feel that the Haas outfit would be better for Formula 1 in the long term. And could fit into the proper hard trying rejects category that we also love. As for Collin Kolles... Man, why not let them three enter?

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 17 Jan 2014, 12:21

Wasn't Haas supposedly involved with USF1?

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 17 Jan 2014, 13:11

Faustus wrote:Wasn't Haas supposedly involved with USF1?

What a lazy and quick search on google could reveal was that Ken Anderson was a former Haas CNC technical director, but that is all. And they look to have at some money around unlike USF1. Rumours say that it is enough to establish some Caterham like effort without any backup.

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 17 Jan 2014, 13:56

Faustus wrote:Wasn't Haas supposedly involved with USF1?

Possible coincidence, but USF1's Production Manager was called David Skog. The Crew Chief at Haas CNC Racing was also called David Skog.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 17 Jan 2014, 16:13

I also think Haas sold USF1 some CNC mills, them repo'd them for non payment.

Post by **mario** » 17 Jan 2014, 21:15

Wallio wrote:I also think Haas sold USF1 some CNC mills, them repo'd them for non payment.

That would be logical given that Gene Haas owns one of the largest CNC tool manufacturing companies in the US - he would almost certainly have been a supplier to the team, but the relationship with USF1 would probably have been purely that of a supplier.
USF1 might have also sought to use the Windshear wind tunnel operated by Haas - it has been used in the past by some other F1 teams (Lotus have definitely used it in the past), so it is possible that they would have tried to strike a deal to use that facility as well.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 17 Jan 2014, 22:42

Funding isn't an issue for Gene Haas, he had a well-equipped but poorly-staffed NASCAR team until Tony Stewart slapped his name on it (and then the rest of the grid realized that; "Oh yeah, that's a Hendrick B Team"). He also failed to get away with tax evasion, which I think is fantastic, because F1 needs some more shady characters.

The same applies for Zoran Stefanovic. I'd love to see both Stefan and Haas get in for the same reasons -- they're both crooks, both have outrageously hairbrained ideas (running teams in Charlotte and Belgrade or wherever Stefan GP was going to be), and both of them could make Caterham and Marussia look like Ferrari and Red Bull.

I LOVE IT!

So can't we just do away with either Toro Rosso or Williams so that Haas and Stefan both get in? Or better yet, add both Haas and Stefan to the grid?

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 18 Jan 2014, 10:10

Cynon wrote:Funding isn't an issue for Gene Haas, he had a well-equipped but poorly-staffed NASCAR team until Tony Stewart slapped his name on it (and then the rest of the grid realized that; "Oh yeah, that's a Hendrick B Team"). He also failed to get away with tax evasion, which I think is fantastic, because F1 needs some more shady characters.

Gene Haas is rich, but he's not Dietrich Mateschitz rich. Infiniti Red Bull spend Haas' wealth in two seasons. But if he can open up the American sponsorship market, the sky's the limit I guess.

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 18 Jan 2014, 10:14

Cynon wrote:So can't we just do away with either Toro Rosso or Williams so that Haas and Stefan both get in? Or better yet, add both Haas and Stefan to the grid?

As long as we can get Kolles-Dacia in as well. Bring back pre-qualifiying.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 18 Jan 2014, 19:24

Cynon wrote:
So can't we just do away with either Toro Rosso or Williams so that Haas and Stefan both get in? Or better yet, add both Haas and Stefan to the grid?

NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not Williams!!! Toro Rosso maybe (although if they were still Minardi...)

watka · Post by **watka** » 18 Jan 2014, 21:21

This is great news! All 3 teams have strong reject potential. Haas is seemingly run by a criminal from a NASCAR background and will likely be going down the HRT/USF1 approach to F1. Colin Kolles is actually pretty good at running a team (at least until he can sell the entry on to someone else), but wants to bring Dacia into the sport. And we all know about Stefan GP...

I wonder what chassis Zoran Stefanovic has in mind for his F1 entrant? Before he bought a Toyota chassis and then before that he had the Mastercard Lola cars.

Post by **mario** » 19 Jan 2014, 10:35

watka wrote:This is great news! All 3 teams have strong reject potential. Haas is seemingly run by a criminal from a NASCAR background and will likely be going down the HRT/USF1 approach to F1. Colin Kolles is actually pretty good at running a team (at least until he can sell the entry on to someone else), but wants to bring Dacia into the sport. And we all know about Stefan GP...

I wonder what chassis Zoran Stefanovic has in mind for his F1 entrant? Before he bought a Toyota chassis and then before that he had the Mastercard Lola cars.

It probably doesn't matter what sort of car he plans on running, because there is no way that the FIA is giving approval to an individual who brought an unsuccessful lawsuit against them for rejecting his last bid. I don't think that Zoran has said anything about this rumoured latest bid, which is odd given his usual tendency for self promotion.

Haas's bid probably has a moderate chance - he has access to reasonably solid facilities, such as the Windshear wind tunnel, and I believe that he does also have some facilities in Europe (I think in Belgium) that he could also use as a base of operations for the European leg of the championship. The main bonus would be the opportunity to garner increased participation from the US, which I imagine would catch the attention of the FIA and FOM and might therefore give Haas something of an advantage.
His bid is also the only one which, so far, seems to have a reasonable number of contracts being already lined up - the partnership with Dallara for the chassis and, more speculatively, rumours of a powertrain deal with Ferrari (plausible, given their interests in expanding F1's presence in the US), suggesting it is one of the better prepared bids.

As for Kolles, well, he does have facilities which could be used to run an F1 team - HRT was basically run out of his facilities - although it appears that his involvement would be as an external consultant and supplier rather than team manager. The suggested tie in with Dacia is interesting though given the possibility of a link with Renault Sport (Renault having a financial interest in Dacia) - perhaps it's an opportunity for Renault to engage in a bit of brand building for Dacia?

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 31 Jan 2014, 17:52

So I've just opened Twitter, and the second post down is this:

@sniffermedia wrote:Heard from a very good source today that Stefan GP are evaluating premises in the UK for their planned F1 programme #ambitious

I saw it because it had been re-tweeted by Craig Scarborough. Ambitious perhaps isn't strong enough for Stefan GP's plans! :lol:

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 31 Jan 2014, 21:38

AndreaModa wrote:So I've just opened Twitter, and the second post down is this:

@sniffermedia wrote:Heard from a very good source today that Stefan GP are evaluating premises in the UK for their planned F1 programme #ambitious

I saw it because it had been re-tweeted by Craig Scarborough. Ambitious perhaps isn't strong enough for Stefan GP's plans!

#dauntless

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 01 Feb 2014, 14:36

I would love to see Stefan GP do enough to get a legitimate profile on the main site!

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 01 Feb 2014, 15:30

dr-baker wrote:I would love to see Stefan GP do enough to get a legitimate profile on the main site!

I would argue they've done enough for a "Reject Centrale" article already, but that's just me.....

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 02 Feb 2014, 16:14

Wallio wrote:
dr-baker wrote:I would love to see Stefan GP do enough to get a legitimate profile on the main site!

I would argue they've done enough for a "Reject Centrale" article already, but that's just me.....

True, but then, USF1 are in the same position. USF1 may have had an official entry, but Stefan have had more attempts, and did have some MasterCard Lolas at one point, more than USF1 had. Both need articles, but Stefan is an ongoing saga...

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 02 Feb 2014, 16:18

dr-baker wrote:
Wallio wrote:
dr-baker wrote:I would love to see Stefan GP do enough to get a legitimate profile on the main site!

I would argue they've done enough for a "Reject Centrale" article already, but that's just me.....

True, but then, USF1 are in the same position. USF1 may have had an official entry, but Stefan have had more attempts, and did have some MasterCard Lolas at one point, more than USF1 had. Both need articles, but Stefan is an ongoing saga...

I think both need articles just because it'd be a great explaination as to why many reject teams went bust.

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 08 Feb 2014, 20:08

thejudge13 reckons that both Haas and Kolles could get places on the 2015 grid. I've often found thejudge13 to be pretty accurate on F1 rumours, so I'm optimistic that this might really happen.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 08 Feb 2014, 21:54

Backmarker wrote:thejudge13 reckons that both Haas and Kolles could get places on the 2015 grid. I've often found thejudge13 to be pretty accurate on F1 rumours, so I'm optimistic that this might really happen.

Hmm. Are they selecting both teams because the FIA think both teams will be any good? Or trying to fill up the grids to the max 26 to try to somehow gain more revenue from selling the idea of a full-capacity grid? Or trying to maintain grid size due to the loss of HRT and another team going bust in the meantime?

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 08 Feb 2014, 22:28

dr-baker wrote:
Backmarker wrote:thejudge13 reckons that both Haas and Kolles could get places on the 2015 grid. I've often found thejudge13 to be pretty accurate on F1 rumours, so I'm optimistic that this might really happen.

Hmm. Are they selecting both teams because the FIA think both teams will be any good? Or trying to fill up the grids to the max 26 to try to somehow gain more revenue from selling the idea of a full-capacity grid? Or trying to maintain grid size due to the loss of HRT and another team going bust in the meantime?

Probably picking both with Fernandes saying he'll quit F1 if he doesn't do well this season. Still, it's good that there's a good chance that new teams will enter F1.

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 08 Feb 2014, 22:45

dr-baker wrote:Hmm. Are they selecting both teams because the FIA think both teams will be any good? Or trying to fill up the grids to the max 26 to try to somehow gain more revenue from selling the idea of a full-capacity grid? Or trying to maintain grid size due to the loss of HRT and another team going bust in the meantime?

I think it's probably a safeguard against one of the teams (Lotus, Force India, Caterham, Sauber) leaving the sport, though there are also elements of the power struggle between Ecclestone (who wants 8 3-car teams) and the FIA, the FIA adding more teams in order to dilute the power that individual teams currently have, the desire to have an American team to raise the profile of F1 in the USA (and Haas, being a NASCAR owner, fits the bill perfectly), and also the fact that even if they approve two bids, it's possible that one could have a USF1 style collapse before the season begins.

Post by **mario** » 09 Feb 2014, 09:55

Backmarker wrote:
dr-baker wrote:Hmm. Are they selecting both teams because the FIA think both teams will be any good? Or trying to fill up the grids to the max 26 to try to somehow gain more revenue from selling the idea of a full-capacity grid? Or trying to maintain grid size due to the loss of HRT and another team going bust in the meantime?

I think it's probably a safeguard against one of the teams (Lotus, Force India, Caterham, Sauber) leaving the sport, though there are also elements of the power struggle between Ecclestone (who wants 8 3-car teams) and the FIA, the FIA adding more teams in order to dilute the power that individual teams currently have, the desire to have an American team to raise the profile of F1 in the USA (and Haas, being a NASCAR owner, fits the bill perfectly), and also the fact that even if they approve two bids, it's possible that one could have a USF1 style collapse before the season begins.

The risk is that we might be seeing more than one team leaving the sport soon - things have gone quiet for now, but I would be surprised if we don't hear about at least one of those teams hitting more financial problems again later this season.
Equally, I'd agree that it is strongly in the FIA's interest to have more teams, and especially teams from the US, within the sport, and with Bernie somewhat tied down with the court cases he is having to fend off, this might be the best time for the FIA to push through changes that they want. Out of the two bids, at the moment Haas's bid looks to be the more developed bid out of the two (better facilities, such as Windshear, at his disposal, planned development routes with Dallara and so forth), so I expect that he stands the better chance - I'm not so sure about Kolles however.

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 09 Feb 2014, 10:41

mario wrote:Equally, I'd agree that it is strongly in the FIA's interest to have more teams, and especially teams from the US, within the sport, and with Bernie somewhat tied down with the court cases he is having to fend off, this might be the best time for the FIA to push through changes that they want. Out of the two bids, at the moment Haas's bid looks to be the more developed bid out of the two (better facilities, such as Windshear, at his disposal, planned development routes with Dallara and so forth), so I expect that he stands the better chance - I'm not so sure about Kolles however.

Colin Kolles is no mug: he already has near-Formula One-level facilities at Geding and can build a chassis. He just needs a designer (like his friend Jacky Eeckelaert), and an engine (Renault if the Dacia rumours are true).

Post by **mario** » 09 Feb 2014, 20:11

Backmarker wrote:
mario wrote:Equally, I'd agree that it is strongly in the FIA's interest to have more teams, and especially teams from the US, within the sport, and with Bernie somewhat tied down with the court cases he is having to fend off, this might be the best time for the FIA to push through changes that they want. Out of the two bids, at the moment Haas's bid looks to be the more developed bid out of the two (better facilities, such as Windshear, at his disposal, planned development routes with Dallara and so forth), so I expect that he stands the better chance - I'm not so sure about Kolles however.

Colin Kolles is no mug: he already has near-Formula One-level facilities at Geding and can build a chassis. He just needs a designer (like his friend Jacky Eeckelaert), and an engine (Renault if the Dacia rumours are true).

Does Kolles have the facilities to build a chassis in house? When he was racing ex-works Audi R10's in sportscar racing a few years ago, Dallara were the ones who built the chassis, so that would have been out of house (although he had to create his own electronics systems - according to him, Audi deliberately refused to sell him the electrical systems, and he claims that Dr Baretzky told him " we can't have a customer beating the works team").
As for his work with HRT, again, not a single HRT chassis was made by Kolles (after they broke away from Dallara, their next chassis was made in Germany by an independent privateer), so I can't recall of Kolles actually manufacturing a chassis in house in recent years.

Of course, that in itself need not be a hindrance if the work can be outsourced (which is what Haas is planning to do). Kolles certainly has prior experience in F1 and has a long track record in motorsport, but there is still a slight doubt at the back of my mind. Equally, there is the possibility that some of the players in the sport might not want to see him there again - particularly Mercedes, since I imagine that Wolff won't be too keen to see somebody who tried to blackmail him mixing in the same circles (speaking of which, the blackmail accusations could give the FIA a pretext to turn his application down on the grounds that he is not a fit and proper person to run an F1 team).