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Haas F1 Team
1. Haas F1 Team in brief
The Haas team was founded by Gene Haas. Already invested in Nascar via the Stewart Haas Racing team, the American team based both in Kannapolis and Banbury has been involved in Formula 1 under the name Haas F1 Team since 2016. Gene Haas is still the owner while the The team is operationally managed by Ayao Komatsu, the Team Principal having taken over from the charismatic Günther Steiner.
Kevin Magnussen returned to the fold in 2022 / © DPPI
2. The history of Haas F1 Team in Formula 1
It was following a call for tenders launched by the FIA in 2013 (to join F1 in 2015) that the Kannapolis team joined Formula 1. Although it delayed its commitment to Formula 1 by one year, Haas F1 Team is moving to the United Kingdom after purchasing the Marussia premises in Banbury.
After signing an engine partnership with Ferrari, despite discussions with Mercedes, Haas F1 Team decided to hire Frenchman Romain Grosjean and Mexican Esteban Gutierrez for its first year in F1 in 2016.
In the race, the start was resounding with 6th place obtained by Romain Grosjean, before a 5th place in the following Grand Prix. Despite these fanfare beginnings, things became complicated with a lot of technical problems. Haas finished 8th in the Constructors' standings on its debut.
In 2017, to accompany the Frenchman, Kevin Magnussen took Gutierrez's place. The start of a four-year era which will continue with the same drivers until 2020. After another 8th place in 2017, Haas achieved the best season in its history in 2018, finishing in 5th place in the Manufacturers' championship. .
It was notably the advent of Magnussen, who scored a large part of his team's points that year, thanks in particular to his 5th place in Bahrain and Austria. Romain Grosjean signs the best result in the history of the team with a 4th place in Austria. The Dane finished 9th in the drivers' standings, the Frenchman 14th.
In 2019 and 2020, things got complicated again with a 9th place in the constructors' championship. For a team that finished 5th the previous year, it's hard to swallow. After a partnership signed with Rich Energy which wanted to compete with Red Bull, the energy drink brand withdrew in July 2019, upset by the poor results of the Haas F1 Team. On the track side, 28 points were scored in 2019, only three in 2020.
A 2020 season marked by Romain Grosjean's chilling accident in Bahrain. The Frenchman's Haas single-seater literally crossed the rail in Bahrain and burst into flames at the rear. Grosjean, trapped in the flames, managed to escape from the car, miraculously. It was ultimately Pietro Fittipaldi, the team's reserve driver, who took part in the last Grand Prix, replacing the Frenchman.
Romain Grosjean (Haas) suffered a horrific accident at the 2020 Bahrain GP / © DPPI
The 2021 season marks the start of a whole new era for Haas. After four years spent with the same duo of drivers, she is banking on two rookies... unlike the others.
The first has a high-sounding name, son of seven-time world champion Mick Schumacher, reigning F2 champion. On the other, Nikita Mazepin, less talented (to put it mildly…), but son of the Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin.
Plagued by financial concerns, Haas signs a partnership with Uralkali, the Russian company headed by Father Mazepin, in order to ensure its survival. It is to this partnership that Nikita Mazepin owes his contract with the team.
Cohabitation with Schumacher is tumultuous, and the car does not have any developments, the team preferring to focus its resources on the new 2022 technical regulations.
Neither driver scored a single point that year. While the line-up was to remain unchanged in 2022, the Russian-Ukrainian war will upset the destiny of Haas in Grand Prix. While Vladimir Putin's Russia takes part in an attempted annexation of Ukraine at the end of February, Haas no longer wants to be associated with a title sponsor led by someone close to Vladimir Putin.
Result: the contract was terminated, and Nikita Mazepin was disembarked immediately, before the second phase of winter testing planned in Bahrain. Nikita Mazepin defends himself by organizing a press conference but nothing happens: his contract is torn up.
Haas therefore continues without title sponsor, and recalls its former driver Kevin Magnussen, who had since entered Endurance. He teams up with Mick Schumacher. After two struggling years, Haas got off to a flying start to the 2022 season with a 5th place in Bahrain thanks to… Magnussen!
In 2023, the team replaced Mick Schumacher with veteran Nico Hülkenberg. The German, record holder for the number of Grand Prix starts without the slightest podium on the clock, impressed, particularly in qualifying. But the VF-23's difficulties in the race prevented the Magnussen-Hülkenberg duo from finishing higher than 10th in the Manufacturers' standings. The duo was renewed in 2024.
Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
3. Haas F1 Team drivers
In 2022, Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher are the two drivers working for the Haas team, while Pietro Fittipaldi still occupies the role of reserve. In 2023 and 2024, the German was replaced by Nico Hülkenberg, still alongside Kevin Magnussen.
Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg continue the adventure at Haas. © Haas
4. AUTOhebdo's opinion on Haas
Since 2016, the Haas team has alternated between good and bad in Grand Prix racing. But very often, the American structure, despite a minimalist budget compared to its competitors, has managed to evolve higher than its means would normally allow. The return to business of regular Kevin Magnussen breathed new life into a Haas team in danger after the departure of Nikita Mazepin, and that of Nico Hülkenberg brought a touch of additional experience. The surprise replacement of Günther Steiner at the head of the team by Ayao Komatsu put the focus back on the track and the American team became ambitious again.