Haas linked with a Maserati partnership

I sorta didnt, and sorta did. I pretty much expected Ferrari to try to treat both their customers equally. But I wasnt sure if Maserati of all brands would be returning to F1, even if its just as a sponsor.

It makes perfect sense. Marchionne and F1 (which is owned by Americans now) are trying to increase their presence in America, which is by far the largest untapped market left for both. What Haas has achieved in its first two years is unmatched in the modern history of the sport. To look at the constructors table and say Haas isn't competitive is being dumb basically. Look at both their seasons so far, and their performance dropped off because they started work on their cars sooner than anyone else in the field. 25 million a year from Marchionne will fix that issue. And the 25 million comes in the form of free engines from Ferrari. A good deal for both.

Look, they aren't competitive. They are not as bad as Manor, but for the most part in a position where they have to rely on other cars to retire to get anywhere near the points. It's unmatched because for all intents at purposes they've bought a ready made F1 car, and still they're struggling.
The way things are shaping up, they could very well find themselves at the back of the grid next year.
I'd agree with you in terms of presence in the US if they were at Force India's level. But where they're at now, it means less than nothing. Just ask Ford/Jaguar.

I don’t understand the comments that Haas has achieved unmatched performance, and, is “working on next year’s car”. How so? Haas is not a full Constructor and makes nothing bigger than a suspension component or a bearing or two. Everything else comes from Ferrari or Dallara. Haas entered F1 “on the cheap” and his results will reflect that. The only thing that will save Haas F1 is a budget cap, otherwise he will be out developed and outraced by the other legitimate 9 teams. I admire what he has achieved but I think he may have underestimated Dallara’s ability to operate in a bespoke way which an F1 chassis requires. He’s always going to be behind the curve if he doesn’t have control of production of the principal parts. Haas would like nothing more than to push F1 towards a ‘spec’ series of standardisation. It ain’t going to happen. F1 is an engineering as well as driver championship and only ‘full’ constructors should qualify. He’s got away with it so far, but I think the other teams will be keeping a watching brief..

I am quite surprised that nobody has tried to sponsor Force India. Operationally speaking it might be the best team on the grid. It just happens to have a small budget. I was quite disappointed that Aston Martin ended up going with Red Bull. I do wonder if the problem is that Force India has a lot of sponsorship that might not go so well with luxury brands. They have taken a bit of everything.

I think the problem is more down to the insecurity around FI. Mallya's problems could very well strike back on the team as a whole, and thats not a promising prospect. I really cant think of anything else holding them back. Other sponsors really only tend to be problematic if they are direct competitors, like two competing car brands and so on.

Yeah, but maybe thats a part of it. Scare tactics to show off the damage they could deal if they were to pull it all out in one swipe.

Like it.

A Chaguar? Chasten Martin? McHaren? Chaserati? Cherrari? Choyota? Chonda? They could make them all!