Haas deal to use Ferrari engines confirmed

2016 F1 season

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The new Haas team will use Ferrari engines when it enters Formula One in 2016.

Ferrari confirmed it will commence a “multi-year” agreement with the American-based team to supply “the enter power unit” for its cars.

Haas chairman Gene Haas said “there is no team in Formula One more accomplished than Scuderia Ferrari, and no team with more history”.

“They’ve been a part of Formula One from the beginning, and now they’ll be a part of Haas F1 Team’s beginning.”

“Aligning Haas F1 Team with such a tenured and successful company in Scuderia Ferrari provides our team with the greatest opportunity for success in 2016 and beyond,” he added.

Haas will join Sauber and Marussia as Ferrari engine customers. Ferrari team principal Marco Mattiacci said: “A few months ago we joined forces with Gene Haas on a commercial level and this is the natural next step of our growing relationship.”

“While our objective is to reinforce our power unit development programme for all our customer teams, we believe this new partnership has the potential to evolve beyond the traditional role of supplying our power unit and all related technical services.

“[The] United States continues to be one of the most important markets for Ferrari and it offers many interesting opportunities. We look forward to supporting Haas F1 Team in its efforts to become a competitive player on the Formula One grid.”

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Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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30 comments on “Haas deal to use Ferrari engines confirmed”

  1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    3rd September 2014, 16:07

    Maybe they can exchange technology as payment?

    1. I believe giving a seat to one of Ferrari’s junior drivers will be part of their payment.

      1. Marciello-Rossi perhaps?

        1. Sounds like the perfect Ferrari B/USA team line-up. @carlitox

        2. If Haas can be stronger than Marussia currently are, like I believe, if I were Ferrari I’d give Bianchi to Haas and Marciello to Marussia. Bianchi’s experience can do them good and Marciello joins someone with experience, so both parties win. Also, it’s time to give Jules a promotion! And Ferrari are slow at letting their drivers climb up the ladder, so I doubt Marciello will start with such a hard task to fulfill.

          1. @fixy If it all goes well, Bianchi should go straight to Ferrari as Raikkonen’s replacement.

          2. Moving Bianchi to a completely fresh outfit is hardly a promotion.

          3. @mattypf1 oh, I didn’t consider Haas will enter in 2016, I read 2015! At that point I hope Bianchi will actually be at Ferrari. Marciello may well join them rather than Marussia, but a double-rookie line-up for a rookie team is quite risky.
            @zimkazimka you’re absolutely right, but if the other options are remaining with Marussia you can see the added responsibility of having a team focussed around you is a new challenge. That is if Marussia don’t improve and Jules doesn’t get promoted before 2016.

  2. Welp, so much for being competitive from the word “go.”

    1. 2016 is a long way from now, though. If Alonso trusts them to extend his contract then we should give them some time as well.

      1. These things are cyclical. Mercedes wil not be on top forever. Ferrari, Red Bull/Renault and Honda certainly have some catching up to do, but they won’t stand still.

        This really is a good move for Haas and Ferrari business-wise. Even for F1 politics who better to be aligned with than Ferrari?

        Hopefully the overall package will work out for Haas. He seems to be doing things in a way to be in F1 long term. With a proper budget, technology and drivers I could see Haas ahead of Marussia sooner rather than later. If the other Ferrari customer Sauber stays mired, maybe Haas could move past them in their second season in F1.

      2. @gicu Alonso’s trusting Ferrari since 2010… not the best example. :P

        But yeah, still a long way to go.

    2. Even if Ferrari do not become equally powerful their reliability makes them a good choice for a new team allowing them to get maximum track time for development without conflicting resource requirements in the garage.

    3. has any team outside Ferrari won with a Ferrari-engine?

  3. On paper, Haas maybe could’ve got a better engine, but how much good can it get for a new team coming from America in all its glory than having the most iconic manufacturer as your engine supplier?

    Surely from a marketing point of view, it cannot get any better. And if Ferrari appointed as team principal a guy from their American headquarters with no experience, then maybe they are looking for a good deal over there? no idea…

    Haas still has a lot of time, a lot of resources and a reasonably good engine to start with, unlike those poor money-lacking, Cosworth-intoxicated souls at the former Virgin and Caterham teams.

    1. Appointing Mattiacci as a team principle has nothing to do with the Haas deal, well it has but that was not the main reason behind that decision. The context in which was named MM is the stripping Luca Di Montezemolo from his absolute power, well let me explain :
      The new generation of the Agnelli’s are keen to take control again of the family business. After the death of both Gianni Agnelli (Italy most powerful man) and his brother Umberto Agnelli respectively in 2003 and 2004 Andrea Agnelli (Umberto’s son and current Juventus president) and John Elkann who were 29 and 28 at the time were not ready to take over the family business.
      In 2004 Montezemolo who was a personal friend of the family was named as a president for the whole FIAT group having Susanna Agnelli (Gianni’s sister) as a personal sponsor, as for Juventus the situation was more stable.
      Now with the new generation (John and Andrea) are in control of the whole Business, Montezemolo is now feeling the continuous pressure from John and Sergio Marchionne since the merge of FIAT and Chrysler and the quotation of their shares in the New York stock exchange which stopped Luca’s plan to quote Ferrari’s share in the Singapore stock exchange.
      Luca had also to take Marchionne’s advice on Domenicali successor and as mentionned by Keith in the round up 3 or 4 weeks ago, he was not invited to an important meeting of the FIAT group despite being Ferrari president.
      The thing is Montezemolo the man who made Ferrari the world’s most powerful brand that didn’t stop breaking profit records year after year since 2010 without increasing the production will never give up Ferrari presidency unless for unusual circumstances. The question is how long can he support that huge pressure coming from the major shareholders.

      1. @tifoso1989 I wasn’t talking about links with Haas but links with America in general, as a way to expand themselves there even more…

  4. I can’t be the only American who’s disappointed to hear that Haas didn’t partner with Honda. I know the Honda engine is still a year away and is a big unknown, but they have a long history in the US and are about the closest thing would could realistically get to a “domestic” engine supplier.

    1. @steronz Im Australian and I think the exact same as you. As you said, Honda do have a long and successful history in the USA and joining forces with Honda could’ve been a turning point for yound asian drivers looking for a seat. For example, Kamui Kobayashi, Adderly Fong, Kimiya Sato etc. I know they’re not the best examples (except for KK), but in all reality, Sauber and Marussia are still a junior team for Ferrari in some aspects.

    2. Haas don’t want to keep it “domestic”.

    3. If I wanted to choose a 2nd Honda Team, it would be Andretti Autosport. Michael has his interest (Well… if they allow customer cars.)

  5. I can’t imagine that a brand new car with a brand new team can be faster than a Caterham right out of the box. Would it not make more sense to buy an existing team and build on that?

    1. Your probably right @dutchtreat but Gene has a point to prove , that the US can make it in F1 ,

      Its not a case anymore of how much money you have , its been proved you can buy your way into a deep deep hole ,
      How smart will his team be at reading regs?

      And will we ever hear !
      ” gene , tell your driver Fernando is faster than him”

  6. I really thought they would have gone with Honda.

    Given that the Honda power would have a year of development as well as beiing the newest on the block, plus Honda probably requiring supply to need a second team in 2016 to give them some extra data, I’d have opted for that.

    Oh, well, his team, his choice …

  7. Assuming Haas had other options, perhaps this is evidence that Ferrari is getting an allowance for a “reliability” update.

  8. Mark in Florida
    3rd September 2014, 22:48

    Haas probably won’t be a competitive team their first year. That’s just too much to ask from anyone especially when they will be using a Dallara chassis out of the box. However I expect after they develop their own chassis and the Ferrari engine is a lot more competitive they will be able to compete more effectively and could become Ferrari’s junior team so to speak. With the engine deal in place does Haas think he can be competitive like Williams who of course uses Mercedes engines? I guess that depends on how everything comes together for the team. Sometimes you need a little luck to go along with the talent you bring together.

    1. I can’t see why a Dallara chassis with a Ferrari power unit cannot be competitive out of the box. Dallara know how to make race cars (Indycar, GP2, GP3 etc etc), and Ferrari know how to make race engines. Yes the last Dallara chassis in Formula 1 was a dog, but that’s because to my understanding Dallara’s client was always late paying their bills, and wanted a car developed in a super fast time frame. Haas / Dallara have a year and a half before the start of the 2016 season. As long as Haas pays his bills on time, he can probably have continuous development of the chassis over that full year and a half, if it hasn’t already started. Similarily Ferrari’s power plant may not be the best this year, but you’d have to be a fool to think that over the next year and a half it won’t become better. The last link in the puzzle will be getting the right personnel involved to run the team.

      1. When was the last time a Dallara raced against something else?

        1. HRT ran a Dallara chassis in 2010. It was a dog for the reasons mentioned above. My point is that Dallara know how to engineer and construct race cars. I assume that like any professional organisation, which I assume Dallara to be, that if you pay your fees on time, that they keep resources assigned to your project, meaning they can deliver what you’ve paid for, which in Haas’ instance would a well engineered, and competitive Formula 1 chassis.

  9. I believe that Haas will jump into the band wagon in the event Marussia decides to choose his 2015 pair. And Haas would likely join the bandwagon going head to head with Max Chilton’s father and see who will get the seat.

    It will take time to initiate a driver development program for aspiring US and Canadian (And I do mean Canadian) drivers. And maybe – just maybe – get some young Indy Car and Road to Indy talent into joining the ranks of Formula 1.

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