F1 2015

Welcome Carl Haas....

DOH..... Gene...

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/gene-haas-has-officially-received-his-formula-1-license-181444304.html

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/formula-1-chief-bernie-ecclestone-says-gene-haas-will-have-the-chance-to-go-f1-racing-135911475.html

So what say the collective??

I wish him all the best... I'd like to see a competitive American entry...

Requires a long long dollar. Best'o'luck.

If anyone can do it.....Gene can!!!! Maybe we could get Rossi as a driver????

There's a little over 6 months until we see 2015. Haas has the money, but I don't see where he has the time to build a complete (or mostly complete) F1 team. Cars, personnel, equipment, shop, etc. I really can't figure how he could do it as an American based team. All the quality personnel, knowledge, and parts suppliers are in Europe, mostly the UK. I'm sure he has a plan though. If they can actually have a car on the grid for the Australia GP in 2015, that will be a huge victory all by itself.

uhhhh speculation... HAAS/Honda

Honda will have a new power unit available... and considering Mercedes will put the halt on any engine rule changes currently... does Honda... and HAAS have any advantage because they are coming in a year later...???

A few interesting articles/updates....

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20140429/f1/140429833

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/haas-building-200-strong-f1-workforce-report/

If his plan does work, he will be a back marker for a while, teams don't seem to do well when they start from scratch, see Marrussia and Caterham. I still say he should purchase Lotus, and get the Mald out and insert Rossi.

I'm hoping that he lets Dallara actually do work- there was an interesting article about the chassis they made for HRT, where the intention was to develop the car, but HRT just took the chassis and tried to do it themsleves. This was in Racecar Engineering about a year ago.

And the comments are interesting- for a sport that tries to be a world sport, they really harp on the Euro-centric work of it. We'll see what he does.

alfadriver wrote: I'm hoping that he lets Dallara actually do work- there was an interesting article about the chassis they made for HRT, where the intention was to develop the car, but HRT just took the chassis and tried to do it themsleves. This was in Racecar Engineering about a year ago. And the comments are interesting- for a sport that tries to be a world sport, they really harp on the Euro-centric work of it. We'll see what he does.

I've read speculation that the eventual plan is to build the cars in the US and run them from Europe. Except for logistics and the duplication of services/personnel, it sounds good.

Regardless of the F1's desire to be perceived as a world sport, half the season is held within the confines of the second smallest continent. It seems likely it will be Euro-centric for the foreseeable future.

There was a rumor floating around that Haas was talking to Lotus.

Lotus has certainly had their financial hardships as of late. A buy out doesn't seem out of the question. The car seems decent enough. With a little funding to back it, it might be really good. They might even be able to retain Grosean, who has come into his own. Get rid of Maldanado, bring in a young North American talent, rebrand, and boom - you're in the top 4-5 your first year out as a constructor.

In reply to oldsaw:

And since Haas' goal is to expand his business, it's not unthinkable for him to set up a nice shop in Europe. He makes the tools that makes the parts for the cars. Kind of a good business to be in.

My other point about the massive euro-centric thing- how to they realistically expect to get REAL support in North America when it's considered so stupid to host a team here? I love F1, but it wears on me how the US is considered by them.

alfadriver wrote: My other point about the massive euro-centric thing- how to they realistically expect to get REAL support in North America when it's considered so stupid to host a team here? I love F1, but it wears on me how the US is considered by them.

I've always seen F1 as looking at the US and seeing a cash cow with a full udder. That interest is piqued almost solely by marketing opportunities.

The technical capabilities will have to be homegrown and that's good enough reason to cheer for Haas success. I hope he has the funding and will power to make it happen and politely stick it to the naysayers.

alfadriver wrote: My other point about the massive euro-centric thing- how to they realistically expect to get REAL support in North America when it's considered so stupid to host a team here? I love F1, but it wears on me how the US is considered by them.

It's not unique the US that's considered stupid to host a team here. Sauber gets questioning looks for being in Switzerland, and people thought Toyota was crazy for doing it from Germany.

The basic issue is that F1 teams are very incestuous. There's a relatively small number of people with experience working in the F1 industry, they flip from team to team every few years, and they pretty much live within a small part of England or Italy. F1 has a lot of specialized knowledge required, and so a startup team needs to either either hire people with experience or learn it all the long and hard way. Yes, North Carolina has a lot of very talented and smart people who have spent a lot of time working on NASCAR (which is way more technically involved than most people give it credit for), but they don't have the specific experience that a new team needs immediately.

So by basing a team 5000 miles away from the main sources of existing talent one makes it very difficult to recruit people with the experience required, because to hire any of them they must be convinced to move to the US. It's not necessarily insurmountable, but it's making a problem that's already extremely difficult even harder.

oldsaw wrote:

alfadriver wrote: My other point about the massive euro-centric thing- how to they realistically expect to get REAL support in North America when it's considered so stupid to host a team here? I love F1, but it wears on me how the US is considered by them.

I've always seen F1 as looking at the US and seeing a cash cow with a full udder. That interest is piqued almost solely by marketing opportunities. The technical capabilities will have to be homegrown and that's good enough reason to cheer for Haas success. I hope he has the funding and will power to make it happen and politely stick it to the naysayers.

If you want to suck on the udder, it makes it a whole lot easier if there are actual humans from this country in the show.

It's partially why nascar is so popular.

codrus wrote:

alfadriver wrote: My other point about the massive euro-centric thing- how to they realistically expect to get REAL support in North America when it's considered so stupid to host a team here? I love F1, but it wears on me how the US is considered by them.

It's not unique the US that's considered stupid to host a team here. Sauber gets questioning looks for being in Switzerland, and people thought Toyota was crazy for doing it from Germany. The basic issue is that F1 teams are very incestuous. There's a relatively small number of people with experience working in the F1 industry, they flip from team to team every few years, and they pretty much live within a small part of England or Italy. F1 has a lot of specialized knowledge required, and so a startup team needs to either either hire people with experience or learn it all the long and hard way. Yes, North Carolina has a lot of very talented and smart people who have spent a lot of time working on NASCAR (which is way more technically involved than most people give it credit for), but they don't have the specific experience that a new team needs immediately. So by basing a team 5000 miles away from the main sources of existing talent one makes it very difficult to recruit people with the experience required, because to hire any of them they must be convinced to move to the US. It's not necessarily insurmountable, but it's making a problem that's already extremely difficult even harder.

plus there are only …what ??? 2 races on this continent ? + one in South America …

there are several in the western Pacific, but the rest are in the European area (I'm counting the Mid-East in the "area" … no ocean to cross) and even the announcers consider the "real" season to start when the teams hit Europe

being based in the US would be a bit of a hardship when most of your races are in Europe

HAAS is going to be using Ferrari power. "HAAS" already on the 2014 Ferrari

oldeskewltoy wrote: Welcome Carl Haas.... DOH..... Gene... http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/gene-haas-has-officially-received-his-formula-1-license-181444304.html http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/formula-1-chief-bernie-ecclestone-says-gene-haas-will-have-the-chance-to-go-f1-racing-135911475.html So what say the collective?? I wish him all the best... I'd like to see a competitive American entry...

http://youtu.be/ntjh1Zq3ghw

How strange F1 can be! When they announced the 2015 schedule I was happy to see Korea on the calendar as I think it's one of the best newer tracks. The last part of the circuit has that high speed jink before the front straight where the cars look like they are close to the wall that (looks to) add(s) an element of pucker that corners like Red Water at Spa used to have.

I had a sad when Bernie took it away.

Now the track organizers are saying they had "no advance notice" that they were back on the schedule! I hope they are able to get a major price concession from the evil elf & host the event.

I would link to the Planetf1 website but have it's been opening a new ad in a window when I visited the last 2 times, so I have to find a new source for F1 stuff.

etifosi wrote: Now the track organizers are saying they had "no advance notice" that they were back on the schedule! I hope they are able to get a major price concession from the evil elf & host the event.

I've read speculation that it's not back for real, that this is just a way of working around the rules limiting number of engines that drivers can use next year. Apparently the rules say that if the season is originally scheduled for 20 races, they get 4, and if it's 21 they get 5, even if the 21st is later taken away.

article

Haas has a facility built in NC already, there was a time-lapse vid of it somewhere online (might have seen the link here, actually). Can't remember source, but I think plan was main factory here, logistics facility in Europe... or maybe that was the aborted USF1 thing.

I really hope he succeeds. Partly because I'd love to work there

YES! I can actually root for Honda-McLaren this year.

In my opinion, they made the right move keeping Jenson to help develop the car and keeping Kevin on as the reserve test driver.

z31maniac wrote: YES! I can actually root for Honda-McLaren this year. In my opinion, they made the right move keeping Jenson to help develop the car and keeping Kevin on as the reserve test driver.

Yes!! Button stays and gets a chance to show the World he's a worthwhile driver. http://en.espnf1.com/mclaren/motorsport/story/187211.html

I'm glad Button is staying at McLaren, he and Alonso will be a formidable team if they deliver a good car. I think Alonso has matured a lot since his unceremonious exit from McLaren previously so I hope the egos and drams are kept to a minimum.

Man, McLaren really needs to get their act together. With these two guys driving, they have no excuse for mid-pack performance.

I'm interested to see a direct comparison between Jenson and Nando as well.

jsquared wrote: Man, McLaren really needs to get their act together. With these two guys driving, they have no excuse for mid-pack performance. I'm interested to see a direct comparison between Jenson and Nando as well.

I think it will be similar to Nando/Kimi.

Jenson struggles when the car isn't perfect, but if he gets the right setup, he's damn quick. Whereas Nando seems to be to grab anything by the scruff and wrestle it to the front.