Whiting brushes away 'illegal' Haas car claims
- Published on 02 Apr 2018 15:31
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Charlie Whiting has dismissed claims from teams who have suggested that Haas' 2018 car is illegal. The American team is in close contact with Ferrari, and have been buying a number of pieces since they entered the sport in 2016.
At Melbourne, it appeared that the squad is the fourth best team, as it was running in fourth and sixth before two pitstop errors forced both Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean into retirement. With the team expecting to bounce back, F1 race director Whiting says the FIA knows what goes on between Haas and Ferrari.
"We know exactly what’s going on between Haas and Ferrari," Whiting said, "[It] is completely legal. Last year we had one team expressing some concerns. But we have not seen anything that concerns us at the moment."
However, some team personnel are still unhappy: "I don’t know how it can be right for a team who has been in the sport for a couple of years with no resources to produce a car like this," Force India’s chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer said.
“Red Bull has over 800 people. A wonderful wind tunnel. Great aerodynamicists. One of the best technical directors who is a top aerodynamicist. Haas has a quarter of the people. No big aerodynamicists, no wind tunnel, no Adrian Newey. But they are faster. How does that happen?" Does it happen by magic? If it does I want the wand!"
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Replies (7)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
If Whiting thinks that, then its good enough for me. Not that I was opposed to Haas' concept to begin with. Its a decent solution for a new team to git gud quickly. As long as its just bits and pieces, I dont mind. 'sides, its not exactly a new concept in F1, contrary to what some critics seem to think.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Some would correctly argue that a lot of things don't make sense, or aren't fair in F1. Sure Haas doing so well with meager resources (even though they started just as good in 2016...#hype), there are regulations that everyone agrees hurt the sport, but refuse to change them before 2021, there is a team with veto power, there is a team that gets paid more than others regardless of championship position, we have teams employing drivers primarily to get sponsorship money, there are people who still think Bernie was doing a good job. Plenty of absurdity going aroundm I'd rank Haas performance pretty low on the list of absurdities
Jutlandia
Posts: 191
Thank You Mr. Whiting for clarifying that Hass and Ferrari is playing by the rules!
And now perhaps other teams should consentrate on their own cars, instead of whining away like Force India are doing.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
We could always dream of that. I dream of having a burglar break in and gun threaten me to have a free legal Honda NSX "or else". I'd of course squirm and hesitate a bit, but at the end of the drama I'd still take the car. Its a damn good car, and after all its for my own good.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
and also like McLaren! McLaren is running out of reasons to give. RB is in top 3 with the same exact engine.
Spasser
Posts: 1
It is astounding how much Otmar Szafnauer can whine without checking his facts.
HAAS owns a wind tunnel - they have plenty of experience from outside of F1 in terms of Aero dynamics and they hire good drivers. www.windshearinc.com/
Alonso should drive for Force India - then Otmar and Alonso could whine on and on together.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Alternatively Szafnauer could move to McLaren, then we'd have most of the whiners gathered in one group.