23/07/2017
NEWS STORY
Talking to the official F1 website, when asked if he is still in the honeymoon period with the sport, Gene Haas, now half-way through his second season, admits: "I would say the honeymoon is over.
"Now comes the tricky part of living together!" he continues. "F1 is a challenge, it is not easy, coming to a race every second weekend and seeing opportunities slipping away and you know that you have to work harder to achieve what you want.
Racing at this level - Formula 1 - is not easy," he continues, when asked how the sport compares to his endeavours in the US. "Your competitors are always as good if not better than you are, so you can't just go out there and pass - you have to look at strategies, look at what you are capable of and what they are capable of, and try to find differences that give you a chance to take advantage of that."
On entering F1, other than sporting aims, the team also had clear commercial ambitions.
"It is working quite well," says Haas. "Take for example the UK. We have a little office in Banbury just near the Silverstone track. We had a reception last week and it was fantastic to see how enthusiastic our customers are about our F1 engagement.
"For them, we are no longer a simple machine tool builder - our customer perceives us now as part of Formula 1. Wow, these guys are participating in this high-level racing! And that is translating over to the image of Haas Automation. We are a lifestyle company now. There you go!"
As well as an American team, the sport now has American owners.
"We are in the early stages," he admits. "What they are doing now definitely will be of benefit down the road.
"Liberty is making a lot of changes to Formula 1, opening up more to the fans," he adds. "The F1 Live event in Trafalgar Square was simply fantastic. These things will help to get more people engaged with F1."
Well established in the midfield, Haas is asked his goal.
"Right now I would say from P5 to P8 is so close that eventually we could drop or gain a position with every race," he replies. "And in this midfield section the team that will finish ahead of his opponents will be the one that makes the least mistakes.
"If you don't make mistakes and get both drivers in the points every race you can do really well," he continues. "Force India has done very well and if we can do that we can move ahead. And if we don't then Toro Rosso will do it.
"We have to be consistent and reliable and finish races. If we finish a race we are probably in that seventh, eighth or ninth position or maybe tenth. All these positions make points."
Asked if there is a clear target to be achieved by season end, he admits: "Not really. But when I remember Baku there could have been an opportunity to get on the podium, as Kevin was third for a while and we were screaming in the garage... 'Keep going, keep going!' A podium, that would have been a milestone for our history."