Gene Haas: “F1 is infinitely more complicated than I thought”

What are your thoughts on this season which started off rather impressively before sinking into complications? Did you expect such a scenario for your debut?

Overall, this season is going much better than we expected. Despite the difficulties encountered, I must admit that I expected a more difficult first season. Being able to score points so early in the season (from the first Grand Prix in Australia, Editor's note), gave us the confidence we needed and which we could have taken a lot longer to build. It is true that the euphoria fizzled out, but the points acquired in the first rounds were the foundation on which we have continued to build since.

Have you learned anything about F1 that you didn't know?

I learned that F1 is infinitely more complicated than I thought. The engines are complicated, the systems are complicated, the software is super sophisticated, the way of analyzing data and setting strategies is incredibly complex, and I'm not even mentioning tire management, race strategies, etc. At the start of the season we were just able to scratch the surface, but now we have a much better understanding of what we're doing. In fact, over the last few months, I've learned that I know nothing about F1, or very little...

Check out Gene's full interview Haas and the analysis of the USA Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2086 of AUTOhebdo, available now in digital version on all platforms and on kiosks.