Haas F1 on track for 2016 debut

Haas F1 Team is on schedule to make its debut in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship in 2016, becoming the first American-led F1 team in 30 years. Solutions reports.

Getting a start-up team to the grid is a massive logistical and technical undertaking but under the leadership of team principal Guenther Steiner, Haas F1 Team has many vital pieces already in place despite the 2016 season being a year away.

Augmenting the team’s US home in Kannapolis, North Carolina, is the recent purchase of a facility in Banbury, Oxfordshire, UK. The 3,655m² building will serve as the team’s European base, allowing for easier and quicker access to the its overseas suppliers and streamlined logistics for when the team travels to F1 venues in Europe.

Construction of the team’s equipment, from transporters to the pit apparatus to garage set-up, is well underway. Upon completion, all will be housed in Banbury. Key personnel have also been added, notably Dave O’Neill as team manager, Rob Taylor as chief designer and Ben Agathangelou as chief aerodynamicist.

Key appointments

Mr O’Neill came to Haas F1 from Marussia F1, joining what was originally Manor GP in 2009. His experience is valuable to Haas – his task on joining Manor was to set up an F1 team in six months. Recruitment of personnel, the purchase of equipment and infrastructure, oversight of car design and supplier selection were just a few of Mr O’Neill’s many duties.
He was the team manager for Jordan Grand Prix from 1998 through 2005 before joining A1GP, a racing series promoted as the ‘World Cup of Motorsport’. As the chief technical coordinator for A1GP, Mr O’Neill set-up the series and track testing of cars. During this time, he also served in the role of team manager for A1GP’s Team Ireland, winning the A1GP championship in the series’ fourth season (2008-2009).

Rob Taylor also joined Haas F1 from Marussia where he held the post of deputy chief designer. Prior to Marussia, he was the senior design team leader at McLaren from April 2006 through December 2010.

Before McLaren, Mr Taylor was head of vehicle design for Red Bull Racing, Toro Rosso and Jaguar beginning in 2002. Senior design roles at Arrows (1997-2002) and Scuderia Ferrari (1992-1997) were achieved after stints at Cosworth (1987-1989) and Benetton (1989-1992). Mr Taylor’s role with Haas F1 marks his 28th year in F1, a tenure that has provided a range of experience in all disciplines of F1 design.

Ben Agathangelou paired with Haas F1 from Scuderia Ferrari where he managed the upgrade of the team’s wind tunnel and testing systems in Maranello, Italy in March 2012. Prior to that Mr Agathangelou was with Dallara, serving as an engineering consultant for a number of projects the Italian racing car manufacturer had dating back to 2009, which included the technical lead for the Campos F1 project, 2012 technical upgrades for GP2 and the World Series Renault, design and development of the DW12 Indycar chassis, and management of the Alfa Romeo 4C ‘low cost’ sports road car project.

Mr Agathangelou has a wealth of F1 experience – he was the head of aerodynamics for Jaguar and later Red Bull Racing from 2002 through 2007. He held the same role with Renault F1/Benetton from September 1999 to March 2002.
He began his F1 career in 1994 with McLaren as an aerodynamics analyst, moved to Tyrrell in August 1997 as senior aerodynamicist and then joined Honda Racing Development in April 1998 as chief aerodynamicist to prepare Honda’s 2000 F1 entry.

Rapid progress

Messrs Agathangelou and Taylor have already designed the 60% scale model of the car Haas F1 Team will race in 2016. The duo has logged numerous hours in the wind tunnel it shares with Haas F1 Team technical partner Scuderia Ferrari. By working diligently to develop the scale model now, Haas F1 will be ready to race in 2016.

“While there is still much work to do, a lot has already been accomplished for Haas F1 Team to be competitive when we join the F1 grid in 2016,” explains Guenther, an F1 veteran who was originally recruited by three time F1 champion Niki Lauda to join Jaguar in 2001 as the team’s managing director.

“Our technical partnership with Ferrari has allowed us to develop our car and our people at an exceptional pace. The way we’re going about our F1 team is new and different, but it’s working. We’re committed to our plan, we’re committed to F1 and, most importantly, we’re on schedule. This time next year, our cars will have already been tested and we’ll be readying them for Melbourne.”

Melbourne, Australia, serves as the kick-off race for the F1 season and is where Haas F1 Team will make its debut following preseason testing. Haas Automation, the CNC machine tool builder Haas F1 Team chairman Gene Haas founded in 1983, will serve as the team’s primary sponsor.

Related interests

In addition to Haas F1, Haas’ motorsports holdings include Stewart-Haas Racing and Windshear.

Stewart-Haas Racing is co-owned by Haas and Tony Stewart. The organisation won the Sprint Cup championship in 2014 with driver Kevin Harvick to earn the team’s second championship in four years.

Driver-owner Mr Stewart won the team’s first Sprint Cup title in 2011. Stewart-Haas Racing fields four entries – the No.14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet for Stewart, the No.10 GoDaddy Chevrolet for Danica Patrick, the No.4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet for Harvick and the No.41 Haas Automation Chevrolet for Kurt Busch. The team operates out of an 18,581m² facility with approximately 280 employees.

Windshear is a 180mph rolling-road wind tunnel in Concord, North Carolina that is the first of its kind in North America. Founded by Haas, it is only the third rolling-road wind tunnel of its scale in existence and the world’s first commercially available, full scale, rolling-road wind tunnel.

Windshear is available for hire to all motorsports teams and auto manufacturers. NASCAR, IndyCar, sports car and NHRA teams utilise Windshear, as does the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), which has conducted tests on production cars at Windshear.

Haas F1 www.haasf1team.com