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In a piece of news that should not come as a major surprise, Haas F1 senior staff member and respected engineer Simone Resta is packing his bags and leaving the team for good. The reasons behind that are only speculation as of now but it does appear that a lack of motivation and disagreement with team owner Gene Haas was the reason behind his exit.
Haas entered F1 with a bang in 2017 and showed a lot of promise and energy because of the team's somewhat unconventional approach to building cars. Haas was as close to being a Ferrari customer as one can be without being one.
While the first couple of years have seen the team achieve moderate to decent success, in recent years Haas appears to have plateaued. The 2021 F1 season saw the team finish last in the championship. After a decent recovery in 2022, the team was back being last again in 2023. Haas appears to lack the energy that was almost infectious in the early stages of its journey.
Additionally, the clueless nature in which Guenther Steiner (who also might be on his way out of the team) has run the operation over the last couple of years, where there's a lack of ideas on how to make the car faster, has been more than obvious.
The only American team's F1 track record has been rather poor over the last few years and it might not be a bad thing for the sport if Andretti ends up buying Haas to become the 10th team on the grid.
#1 The Haas business model has run its course
When Haas first raced in F1, the one thing that stood out more than others was the business model. As close as it could be aligned with Ferrari was what the team opted for and it reaped some impressive rewards. The start of the season has seen the team compete for points and that was the case throughout the season.
This continued to be the case in 2018 as well but when a team's fate is so intertwined with another team, when the bigger team falls, the smaller one suffers even more.
Haas struggled in 2020 and 2021 but the bigger issue at hand has been the new regulations. In the ground effect era, the gap within the field is too small. Hence, a customer car that Haas continued to run would just not be competitive in the long term.
This is precisely why the current model just cannot work and the team might have to change course to stay relevant and not fall behind too much.
#2 Gene Haas has been unwilling to spend money on the F1 project
One of the major issues that have plagued the American team is the surprising unwillingness of Gene Haas to spend money on his F1 project.
In an interview in 2022, Kevin Magnussen revealed that there are some parts on the cars that have carried over from 2017. That's not a sign of a team that is ahead of the curve in terms of infrastructure.
Contrary to that, it's a team whose owner is not interested in investing in his operation. While every other team on the grid is making great strides towards the front of the grid and making improvements, Haas just hasn't shown the same drive and it could be a result of the owner not willing to put his money in the project.
#3 In Andretti, F1 gets a vibrant, resourceful, and motivated team on the grid
Finally, the key point on why Andretti buying off Haas would be a great thing for F1 is because, at the moment, the American racing team has only faced opposition in F1. Be it Mercedes, Red Bull, or any other team, the rejection and opposition have only fuelled Andretti's drive when it comes to entering the sport.
Replacing a team that seems to have maxed itself out already with a team that wants to win is an interesting proposition. It would also raise the overall level of the grid because, unlike Haas, Andretti is not shy of investing in Formula 1 and would have the backing of an American giant - General Motors.
Haas seems to maximized whatever it could achieve in F1, the team doesn't have much of a future if the owner is not willing to spend money on the project, when that is the case Gene should sell the team to Andretti at a value that would be much higher than the one at which it was bought.
