29/05/2014
NEWS STORY
As widely expected, Gene Haas has announced that he will defer entering F1 until the 2016 season.
"It's already June so it's just seven months away and the timing issues are starting to get real crazy," he told Autoweek.
Among the many problems he faces is an engine supply, a chassis supply and team personnel.
"We have a list of names," he admitted, "but the problem is a lot of times they're already working for somebody and they can't get out of their contracts for three to six months so there's a lot of those contractual issues that have to be resolved before someone can come over."
While sceptics might sniff the air and hint at the smell of burnt toast, a reference to the US F1 saga a few years back, Haas insists he is deadly serious about his team, Haas Formula, and will therefore not be rushed into things.
While Dallara has been linked with the team as chassis supplier, Haas having met up with representatives from the Italian chassis builder at Indianapolis last weekend, and Ferrari as engine supplier, many more pieces of the jigsaw still have to be put in place - including drivers - and as Haas rightly points out the new season is effectively only seven months away.
Chris Balfe