Two Formula 1 teams will use special liveries at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.
Team principal Guenther Steiner said they chose to emphasise their American background following the FIA’s decision to approve the bid from a potential new US-based rival, Andretti, to enter the championship.
“One thing that is different this season, is our look and feel is encapsulated under the tagline ‘We The People’ – the first line of the American Constitution,” said Steiner.
“There’s obviously a lot of talk about American teams right now, but we’re still currently the only American team on the Formula 1 grid.”
“Many have said for years that we haven’t exploited that fact, but I’ve always said that’s because we want to earn credibility within the paddock first,” he explained. “We’ve been through a lot in our short time, but along the way have amassed a very loyal, and growing fanbase, and we want to recognize them.”
Steiner said the livery was “some nice marketing, but anyone who works with my team knows how passionate they are, and how funny and genuine our fans are. This race is dedicated to them as, we the people, make Haas what it is.”
The other team running a special livery this weekend is Red Bull. The world champions previously announced they will use designs produced by fans at each of the three rounds to take place in the USA. This week’s race in Texas is the second, following the Miami Grand Prix in May.
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2023 United States Grand Prix
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MichaelN
16th October 2023, 14:36
And the best way to do that was to hire a Russian driver and plaster the car in the Russian flag?
Haas hasn’t done anything for American talent, they barely do anything of note in the United States (their car and engines are from Italy).
To now pretend this is all part of some long term master plan to position themselves as a ‘credible’ American team is just… well, let’s say it’s hard to believe.
If the current commercial rights structure didn’t make running the team so cheap for Haas, one wonders if they’d even still be around.
Forrest Gump (@forrestgump)
16th October 2023, 14:52
the preamble to the constitution of the U.S….
“we the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty” whoa! “to ourselves and our posterity”…
need one say more…
:)
fg
Leroy (@g-funk)
16th October 2023, 16:20
Not only hire a Russian driver and plaster a Russian flag on the car, but have a parent company who continues to supply Russia with embargoed machines that are used by the Russian military.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/u-s-company-haas-appears-to-still-indirectly-supply-russian-arms-industry-with-technology
AlanD
16th October 2023, 17:17
Leroy, very interesting article. Is PBS generally considered a mainstream and credible news source? I can understand that for some companies, pulling out of Russia was little more than a token gesture, because Russia just took over the assets and rebreanded them as Russian, e.g. McDonalds pulled out and now another Russian oligarch has a pre-built restaurant chain called “Vkusno i tochka” (Delicious, Full Stop). Could McDonalds have done more to remove their assets? Doubtful. With the Haas case highlighted in your article, it is difficult to know if they are actively bypassing sanctions, or if it is someone else fronting for Russia.
Leroy (@g-funk)
16th October 2023, 17:22
Yes, PBS is about as reliable a news outlet as is possible in the US. They are part of the public broadcasting system and as such aren’t going after sensationalist headlines/click-bait articles. Their reporters are generally well-respected, well-researched, and non-partisan.
grat
17th October 2023, 14:43
I haven’t read this article in some time, but as I recall, there was one thing lacking– a direct link between Haas and the parts for the Russian CNC systems. Digging in deeper, if I recall, it appears that a third party company is producing knock-off parts with no Haas serial numbers. The company shipping the parts to Russia appears to be a ghost company, and the Chinese are notoriously good at reverse engineering.
The Russians have even started retrofitting a 3rd party motor to many of their Haas CNC systems.
So a better description would be “Russians keeping Haas CNC systems working in spite of trade embargo”.
Implying that Gene Haas is still (in)directly supplying the Russians with parts to keep their CNC systems running is bordering on libelous, given the proof that was available the last time I read through this article (and the accompanying video(s)).
AlanD
17th October 2023, 20:55
Thank you Leroy and others for the PBS info. Being in the UK, the name PBS rang bells, but I couldn’t remember if it rang bells for being reputable and having decent standards of journalism, like the BBC, or if it rang bells for being more like GB News, for example.
Mittens
16th October 2023, 18:43
PBS is very reputable, considered some of the most accurate and nonpartisan journalism in the US
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
16th October 2023, 19:10
The likes of Elon and the Trumpists hate PBS, that should tell you pretty much that PBS is one of the most trustworthy sources you can find.
lucky
17th October 2023, 18:36
pbs is just a shill liberal news outlet. are they partisan? NO. are they liberally biased? YES. trusting pbs as a reliable news is like using a groundhog to predict the weather..
Gerrit
16th October 2023, 19:10
Whilst they are Haas manufactured machine the article is not clear if the machines were supplied new directly from Haas, or if the machines were already in Russia prior to the sanctions and simply “nationalised” by the Russians.
There is a huge second hand market in used CNC machines (including Haas) and sales of those are not controlled by the original manufacturer.
The writer of the article makes this big assumption; oh look a Haas sticker on a CNC machine. Must be supplied (as opposed to manufactured) by Haas and broken sanctions.
One can be assured that you will find CNC machines in Russia manufactured in Korea, Japan, China, Germany, USA, Italy, Netherlands, etc., etc. Probably have been there since Adam was a cowboy.
And in a high grade optics factory would Haas be your first choice? Mediocrity at best. But maybe it is a cunning plan, of Baldrick proportion, to supply inferior Haas machines to manufacture inferior optics?
SteveP
16th October 2023, 22:05
If you dig around a little, you should find older articles.
Summary of what I recall reading: there are historically Haas CNC machines in Russia, but none were ever supplied direct, all went through an intermediary organisation.
Spares for existing machines and whole machines have been supplied to the intermediary organisation since sanctions began, and supplied by the intermediary to Russia.
Clark
16th October 2023, 21:21
No, it’s not. PBS is funded by the US government.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
17th October 2023, 9:20
PBS is partly funded by the US government. Even here in Britain I’ve heard of their pledge drives (thanks Seinfeld).
Leroy (@g-funk)
17th October 2023, 13:37
PBS recieves only 15% of it’s budget from the US Government. The rest comes from donations. And even with the 15% that is provided by the US Government, there is an independent board of directors that oversees PBS and an even further level of editorial independence for NewsHour.
Facts&Stats
17th October 2023, 14:47
I doubt people like Clark can be convinced with facts.
floodo1 (@floodo1)
17th October 2023, 10:28
you’ve been propagandized m8
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
16th October 2023, 15:42
This same American team was running the Russian flag just a few years ago.
Electroball76
16th October 2023, 16:30
They’ve added new bits to the car too.
Shark fin, megaphones, and an enormous ‘cobra tower’ at the front. Aerodynamics is fascinating.
Nick T.
17th October 2023, 1:08
This car livery is white trash fantastic. It looks like something Skoal would give away when sponsoring a wet t-shirt contest.
Edvaldo
16th October 2023, 17:56
i’m pretty sure Andretti will do a much better job at being relevant when they finally make their debut.
anon
16th October 2023, 20:48
Edvaldo, will they? It is somewhat ironic that so many are pointing to Andretti and claiming that they will be the ones to design a true American racecar when, just a few months ago, Michael Andretti stated that he would set up the engineering division of his team in the UK, not the USA.
If posters complain that Haas is using facilities in Italy and doesn’t have enough American staff in their team, why is Andretti any different if the engineering division will be in the UK and the team is going to be mostly staffed by Europeans?
Similarly, whilst we’ve seen some posters complain that Haas aren’t American enough because they’re not building parts in the USA, we also know that the new factory that Michael has commissioned is not going to open until 2025 at the earliest. If Michael still wants to persist with entering the championship in 2025, it’ll require quite a bit of sub-contracting to get the car built by then.
Edvaldo
17th October 2023, 3:01
i don’t see the point at all in keeping their facilities in America, it would prove impratical pretty quickly.
But to build a better team than Haas, with higher aspirations? Yeah, i think it’s very likely, in particular because Haas does the absolute bare minimum, all things considered.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
16th October 2023, 18:50
Oh please… If they are so American why didn’t they paint their car with these colours before? Or wait, they did it but because of a russian sponsor!
David
17th October 2023, 14:24
Their car was russian colours…
But it certainly wasn’t….russian….around the track! HEYO!!!!
SteveR (@stever)
16th October 2023, 18:57
Shouldn’t be too hard to recognize all three of them.
I’m an American and am not the least bit impressed by this jingoist attempt to publicize themselves. Haas has been a huge disappointment as a race team, farming most of their car out to others and constantly defining the bottom of the grid. I have much more respect for Williams, who actually are trying and are making progress.
notagrumpyfan
17th October 2023, 7:16
And Williams is arguably more ‘American’ than Haas.
Both are owned by Americans, whilst using European chassis and PU. But at least Williams has a half American driver line-up.
And next in my ‘most American’ list are: Brown, Hamilton, and Ricciardo ;)
Jere (@jerejj)
16th October 2023, 20:10
Hardly different.
Dex
16th October 2023, 20:24
I don’t even relate Haas to USA. There’s nothing American about that team, and in fact, it is not an American team. Its owner is an American citizen, but I don’t think that’s very relevant (after all, the main operative doesn’t have a Californian accent, to be honest). Their personnel, drivers and cars are from another continent (well, they don’t even build or design their own cars, but they don’t outsource that to someone in USA either). They are hypocrites on so many levels.
Ironically, the biggest Haas connection to US is their attempt to block entry to a US team. No livery can hide that. Besides, they used to wear another “national” livery and would still do so, but the politics prevented them.
pastaman
16th October 2023, 23:51
As an American I want to love this team, however I have never gotten the impression that being seen as an American team has ever been something important to them.
When I attend races (in the US!), I always sport my Haas gear but I can count on one hand how many other people I see wearing anything Haas related, and there are hundreds of thousands of people!
Please let Andretti in. Even if they base their operations in the UK, I have a feeling they would lean in on the American identity.
Todfod (@todfod)
17th October 2023, 5:38
I find it hilarious that suddenly Haas call themselves ‘team USA’ and look at Andretti as competition for taking over the image of ‘local heroes’ in the US. How deluded are Haas as a team?
floodo1 (@floodo1)
17th October 2023, 10:29
“ is our look and feel is encapsulated under the tagline ‘We The People’ ”
Huh?
grat
17th October 2023, 15:07
It’s not easy to start up a team from scratch and enter F1, so Gene Haas deserves some respect. Unfortunately, Haas made a major mistake with his team– Once the initial investment to get the team up and running, he’s largely been coasting in “fiscal savings” mode.
In 2009, Mercedes bought the fantastically successful Brawn racing team because they believed it would be free advertising, but initially the board was reluctant to invest the money needed to make the team successful. Brawn successfully lobbied for a more significant investment, resulting in the staggering results of 2014-2021.
Haas isn’t committing sufficiently to F1 to be anything more than a midfield team, and given the current cost cap restrictions, is unlikely to progress up the grid even if he decided to make the investments to get ahead (like Aston Martin and McLaren have both done with a fair amount of success).