Because the status quo won’t do, changes loom for the American Haas Team.
With most of Formula One teams having securing drivers for 2021, the clock is ticking for others. One of these teams is the American Haas F1 Team–a team that has gone from a competitive midfield team a few years ago to an also-ran recently. Worse yet, outside of the Williams squad, Haas is now the worst team in Formula One.
Gene Haas has gotten involved in the sport, and spreading his famous tool manufacturing business’s sales seems to be the lone success associated with the contract. Haas tried hard when his squad debuted in 2016 to approach the sport differently from what led teams–such as HRT, Marussia, and Caterham–to declare bankruptcy and led USF1 to fail when a car didn’t arrive for the 2010 season.
Haas modeled his approach after Ferrari, one of the most successful teams in motorsports.
That approach has worked in some ways, but not in other ways. There was a botched attempt to get a sponsor last season with Rich Energy–an effort that ended before the 2019 season was over. But that’s not the major glitch as larger issues were prominent.
At the top of the list is the ability to find better alignment (and grip) between the current Pirelli-supplied tires and the chassis. Then, there are the drivers. While Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen have made strides in picking up points, their progress hasn’t been sufficient to challenge mid-range teams, most notably Racing Point, McLaren, and Renault.
The decision looms about whether Haas will keep one or both drivers.
It’s no secret that (with free reign) Team Manager Guenther Steiner would likely pick Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg as his driving team. Those two have driven together, and they get along well, too. At issue, though, is that both are in touch with Ferrari. Another option is to pick a driver from the driver academy. Mick Schumacher’s name comes up, son of the seven-time world champion.
However, Schumacher has another option, Alfa Romeo. If Jr. doesn’t end up filling one of the Haas seats, the nod could go to Russian Nikita Mazepin.
The ideal situation–and the preferred option of Haas himself–is to have a veteran with experience nurturing a younger driver and preparing him for the future #1 seat.
How will things settle? Grosjean has been with the team since it began. Hulkenberg, who substituted for a couple of drives with Racing Point, is scoring more points than the Frenchman. So it seems obvious that the writing is on the wall for the Haas team to do something different.
The big questions for Haas are what, who, and when.
