Haas has been surviving in F1 for 8 years since they first raced in 2016. With multiple challenges like COVID and the Ukraine invasion, the American team has done well to stay afloat financially and operationally. However, the team owner Gene Haas needs to influx some cash in the backmarker outfit. Edd Straw from The Race, suggests that an investment of another $50-100 million will boost Haas’s chances to improve. If not, the American tycoon can sell up and let someone else take charge of the team.
Haas‘s current immediate rivals are all benefitting from some sort of investment and experiencing decent growth. AlphaTauri, despite being one of the slowest in 2023 is improving its technical alliance with Red Bull. Sauber is reaping benefits from Audi’s investment.
Meanwhile, Williams are also slowly making progress after Dorilton Capital bought the outfit 2 years ago. So, Haas could also look to raise some cash to boost their prospects. They can have Alpine as a case study; how the French outfit sold some of its stake to raise a $218 million investment.
Selling the team is not a prudent option for Gene Haas who has invested a lot of time too with the Banbury team. At present, a $50-100 million investment would help the team to jump into the midfield fight, as they have some potential, only for a lack of resources.
Edd Straw also pointed out how Haas has the smallest motorhome facility in the paddock. This certainly doesn’t help them to get sponsors on board easily, which can bring some money.
From the owner’s perspective, Gene Haas felt that it might be time to stop investing as the team has not shown a lot of promise of improvement. Although, with several cost cap implications and teams getting closer on sporting terms, this may be the perfect time for Haas to get some influx of resources and capitalize.
Is Haas steering in the wrong direction?
Currently, Haas is at the rock bottom of the F1 grid, purely based on standings. They finished last in 2023, and not a result sponsors would want to see. Still, Forbes recently valued the teams and Haas stood at $780 million. Not a bad number for a backmarker, but they need results on track.
This year the American team faced a lot of technical challenges. They failed to make any performance gains and things didn’t seem to improve. Team boss Guenther Steiner has voiced many times that they need resources to unlock their potential.
For instance, in 2022, they only brought one major upgrade package and then they couldn’t afford it. This season too, they had staggered upgrades that did not yield much benefit. Thus, the team is in dire need of investment in the right areas to iron out their problems.
Steiner also highlighted the same to The Race. He said, “It needs to be not expenditure, but investment. That’s the keyword here. What do you invest to get better?” Steiner knows the limitations of the team and the team owner too.
The American-Italian boss cited that the wind tunnel may be an area where Haas needs some investment. But given it shares Ferrari’s wind tunnel, they may need that money for other aerodynamic resources to improve on their technical handicap. Even Straw highlighted that Haas needs the investment to maximize its aerodynamic potential for now.
