Ecclestone casts doubt on American team joining F1

It sounds like Haas has been looking into it for several years. I'm guessing he has been doing feasibility studies so far.
 
Bernie is an old codger.

I have no idea how much international business Haas Automation does, but exposing them to a sport popular with wealthy foreign people could be a boon to Haas' business.
 
Bernie now thinks that Haas will get his bid for an F1 team.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...on-the-f1-bandwagon-by-next-year-9234109.html

The team is run by Gene Haas, the joint owner of the championship-winning Stewart-Haas Racing team, which competes in America's Nascar stock car series. "I think Haas will be accepted," said Ecclestone, the sport's chief executive. "They have got the money but it's a question of whether they are going to spend it."
Click to expand...

Another great quote from Bernie: (emphasis mine)
Ecclestone was initially dismissive of the bid from Haas but has been convinced that the team has the wherewithal, at least initially. "A billion would last a new team owner four years," Ecclestone said. "I've spoken to Haas but I don't know what they are going to do. It's America, so I don't know."
Click to expand...

Jesus, could he be any more apathetic and condescending. He's falling over himself to get more races in America, yet he acts like an American F1 team is beneath him and last year, when interviewed by Will Buxton (and NBCSN - the American TV audience), he acted like he was speaking to a five year old. The guy has got to be the biggest tool in motorsport.
 
Per my research, the last American-flagged F1 team to run a full season was Penske in 1976.

Carl Haas (of later NewmanHaas fame, not Gene Haas) had an American F1 team that ran a partial season in 1985 and 1986.
 
KevinWI said:
Bernie now thinks that Haas will get his bid for an F1 team.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...on-the-f1-bandwagon-by-next-year-9234109.html



Another great quote from Bernie: (emphasis mine)


Jesus, could he be any more apathetic and condescending. He's falling over himself to get more races in America, yet he acts like an American F1 team is beneath him and last year, when interviewed by Will Buxton (and NBCSN - the American TV audience), he acted like he was speaking to a five year old. The guy has got to be the biggest tool in motorsport.
Click to expand...

Gosh I hate defending Ernie, the dude is an expensive pimp.

But I do think it is almost impossibile from this side of the pond. I think the logistics and and being outside of the hub, not to mention the incredulous cost is worthy considerations for a skeptic.
And our historical base or passion for the highest level of open wheel racing is rooted in the 500.

Which has lost so much prestige during the last 25 years. In essence a generation that experienced the real glory has been lost. So I am thinking Haas has the capabilities, but I think finding enthusiasm and the energy will be difficult. Unless the majority of his technical resources are European.

I expect many will disagree with my assessment. Thats cool I am a self professing and confirmed windbag, and this is just my opinion.
Maybe Haas will prove me wrong.
 
There was another attempt at a team in recent years that went nowhere plus F1 has had trouble maintaining a venue in the US so Bernie is probably skeptical of ventures here. I think Austin will fill the role of a permanent venue.
 
Greg said:
Gosh I hate defending Ernie, the dude is an expensive pimp.

But I do think it is almost impossibile from this side of the pond. I think the logistics and and being outside of the hub, not to mention the incredulous cost is worthy considerations for a skeptic.
And our historical base or passion for the highest level of open wheel racing is rooted in the 500.

Which has lost so much prestige during the last 25 years. In essence a generation that experienced the real glory has been lost. So I am thinking Haas has the capabilities, but I think finding enthusiasm and the energy will be difficult. Unless the majority of his technical resources are European.

I expect many will disagree with my assessment. Thats cool I am a self professing and confirmed windbag, and this is just my opinion.
Maybe Haas will prove me wrong.
Click to expand...
If Gene is smart, he will build the garage in the UK or Germany. Even Toyota and Honda had their factory F1 teams based in Europe and they were still considered Japanese teams, so I think many would still consider a Haas F1 team with a factory in Europe as an American team. Having them outside of Europe is just pissing money away and you're away from the F1 labor pool of mechanics and engineers.
Zerkfitting said:
There was another attempt at a team in recent years that went nowhere plus F1 has had trouble maintaining a venue in the US so Bernie is probably skeptical of ventures here. I think Austin will fill the role of a permanent venue.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that "US F1" team. It was supposed to be owned by Chad Hurley of YouTube fame but they ran out of money so I assume Chad didn't pony up the big bucks.
 
Three races in the U.S.? I don't think that would be a good idea. Bernie wants to see big numbers of people showing up. Three races would split the attendance to the point of being very unimpressive. F1 doesn't have that big of a fan base here to support that many races. The talk of Long Beach being an F1 event again is starting to make sense, but I think that it would be a mistake to do that.
 
Yeah, that "US F1" team. It was supposed to be owned by Chad Hurley of YouTube fame but they ran out of money so I assume Chad didn't pony up the big bucks.
Click to expand...
I think it was based in Charlotte which I thought might be OK for development since there is a racing industry there. But I think you need a shop in Europe because most of the races are there.
 
Zerkfitting said:
Scarier thought, Kurt Busch in F1.
Click to expand...
Well, it's a two-car team, ain't it? ;)

Despite playing with Hamilton's toy, you can bet Tony isn't interested in making a switch. There's only one open wheel race / track he's interested in winning, and F1 won't be back there while any of us are still alive.
 
Kurt is getting pretty old for F1. But, if you could get a well known Cup driver to make the jump, it would probably bring over a decent sized American audience to at least check out F1.
 
Race Hub just reported this morning that Ecclestone said that the Gene Haas F1 team has been approved and accepted to compete in F1 races and they will be based in North Carolina.
 
Yogisd1 said:
Three races in the U.S.? I don't think that would be a good idea. Bernie wants to see big numbers of people showing up. Three races would split the attendance to the point of being very unimpressive. F1 doesn't have that big of a fan base here to support that many races. The talk of Long Beach being an F1 event again is starting to make sense, but I think that it would be a mistake to do that.
Click to expand...

F1 fanbase is growing. TV ratings are up with NBC.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom