Third and Goal Gene Haas Reflects on Past Two Seasons in F1 as Year Three Beckons Haas,F1, formule 1

Third and Goal Gene Haas Reflects on Past Two Seasons in F1 as Year Three Beckons

Mike Arning/HAAS F1 | 13.2.18 | Aktuality

HAAS F1 2018

KANNAPOLIS, North Carolina (Feb. 13, 2018) – Back-to-back eighth-place finishes in the constructors standings of the FIA Formula One World Championship has earned Haas F1 Team respect in the paddock.

In its 2016 debut, the American team outperformed the factory Renault team (ninth), Sauber (10th) and Manor (11th) and then bettered McLaren (ninth) and Sauber (10th) as the Formula One grid shrank to 10 teams in 2017.

Contraction brought a heightened level of competition, with a technological arms race running rampant in Formula One. There is the battle for the top of the mountain between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, and in the foothills resides the midfield skirmish where Haas F1 Team competes with the likes of Force India, Williams, Renault, Toro Rosso, McLaren and Sauber.

All have seemingly bettered themselves for 2018, with each expecting an upward trajectory in the constructors standings. Of course, for one to rise, another must fall.

Gene Haas, founder and chairman of Haas F1 Team, does not expect to be in the camp of the latter. He formed Haas Automation in 1983 and in the 35 years since, turned it into the largest machine tool builder in North America with a footprint encompassing more than 60 countries and 1,300 employees.

Motorsports has played a key role in that growth, with Stewart-Haas Racing, the NASCAR team Haas co-owns with three-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart, having won two titles and 42 races, including last year's Daytona 500.

That success led Haas to venture into Formula One, where in addition to creating the first American team since 1986, he uses the worldwide platform to build Haas Automation into a premium, global brand.

Constant refinement is what drives Haas in business and in motorsports. That Haas’ two passions are intertwined is not a coincidence.

The serial entrepreneur and machine tool magnate’s formula for success is to find a challenge, create a good, efficient and cost-effective solution, and then repeat. Success in the machine-tool industry led to success in NASCAR.

Haas has taken that blueprint to Formula One, and with his third year as a Formula One team owner beckoning, Haas knows where his team needs to improve in order to grab hold of another rung in the constructors standings.