HAAS: NASCAR racing more pure than F1

Haas has learned that F1 is an engineering exercise. In NASCAR driver skill is paramount

Gene Haas reflects on his first season in F1 thus far with an interview with Vanessa Georgoulas of Speedweek.

"I have seen in Formula 1 a lot of good things." says Haas

"I like the processes in place for regulatory inspection of the cars. After the race, if you’re found cheating then you’re only deceiving yourself."

Of course in Formula 1 a lot of rules. But in NASCAR there’s a lot of excessive regulation too, just in other areas. In my opinion, the level of control is about the same in both series."

Gene feels at home in the paddock as both series are heavily regulated to within an inch. This however is probably where the comparison ends as clearly F1 is far more a technical sport that US stock car racing.

"Nascar is more pure racing, since we spend much less time with technical aspects. In Formula 1, there are definitely a lot of rules, but there are in some areas also open spaces, such as the front wing, where you can put all sorts of things. In Nascar, however everything is practically defined internal regulations."

The prospect of 2017 reg changes are already worrying the American as the team try to not only race this year but also develop next years machine at the same time.
Worrying times for HAAS F1.

"In the F1 circus you need strict rules to slow the pace of development. The cars are evolved to the point of them being a totally different car. Its a huge engineering effort to implement!"

Obviously Gene now understands the plight of midfield teams who don’t have the benefit of the leg of Ferrari provide.