A Low-Cost Entry Into Motorsport’s Top Tier
Haas F1 joined the Formula 1 grid in 2016, just as the Virgin/Marussia project had failed. The cost of entering F1 for Gene Haas was at the time modest, with the entry fee payable to the FIA set at just $20M. Now that fee stands at $600M for any new prospective team wishing to join the grid.
Haas bought the old Marussia HQ in Banbury as its European base to sit alongside its main headquarters in Kannapolis. He spent somewhere in the region of $120M in capital to improve the facilities and manufacture the team’s first cars.
The “Kit-Car” Operating Strategy
The business model for the Haas F1 Team was simple. Rather than attempting to become an independent manufacturer like Williams—spending hundreds of millions a year—Haas made the decision to set up F1’s first kit-car racing team.
The chassis construction was outsourced to Italian race car manufacturer Dallara, which designs and builds the spec IndyCar series cars. The power unit would be sourced from Ferrari alongside the gearbox, suspension components, and any other parts allowed under the FIA technical regulations.
For its debut season in the pre-cost cap era, Haas F1 operated on around $110M—one of the leanest budgets on the grid at that time. The total cumulative investment by Gene Haas across the pre-cost cap era is estimated at around $500M, but tensions had risen between the team owner and team boss over the source of financing in 2020.
Financial Strains and Driver Upheaval
A Drive to Survive episode shows team boss Guenther Steiner taking a radio call from Gene Haas, where the owner stated he would be putting no further cash into the team. Out would go Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen to make way for two drivers with major financial backing behind them.
Mick Schumacher and Russian billionaire’s son Nikita Mazepin joined the team for 2021, but all would not go well: Haas was firmly rooted to the bottom of the Constructors’ table and failed to score a single point.
As Haas prepared for 2022, a leak of its livery was released on social media. For many, it looked like a joke, as the car was bedecked in the colors of the Russian flag—despite this being an American-owned F1 race team. As Russia invaded Ukraine, Haas quickly distanced itself from the Mazepins, with Nikita given the boot—paving the way for Kevin Magnussen’s return.
The Exit of Steiner and a New Management Era
The team’s fortunes instantly improved, with the drivers accumulating 37 points between them as Haas F1 finished ahead of Williams and AlphaTauri. However, Mick Schumacher was relieved of his driving duties for 2023, bringing back Nico Hülkenberg after two years out of the sport.
The team once again struggled and finished last with just 9 points—a result that ultimately cost Steiner his job as team principal. He left his role on January 10, 2024, amid reports of diverging opinions between Steiner and Haas on the level of investment required moving forward.
His replacement was the team’s Director of Engineering, Ayao Komatsu, who was promoted to take over as team principal with immediate effect. Since the change, the team enjoyed a bounce in performance, finishing 7th in 2024 and 8th in 2025.
Steiner Speaks Out on Gene Haas’s Vision
On an episode of the High Performance podcast, Guenther Steiner revealed he failed to understand Gene Haas’s vision and purpose for the F1 team. “With Gene Haas, you’d need to have him here on your podcast to ask him what he wanted to do [with the team] because I still haven’t understood,” Steiner said. He went on to claim he wanted more for the team than just scraping a few points here and there, but could not persuade Haas to make the necessary investments.
“End of ’22, ’23, because I could see where the other teams are going. I could see, to be successful, what needs to be done, and I couldn’t get that across,” the Italian explained. “Again, it’s my fault not getting it across maybe, but I tried to say, ‘This is what we need to do to be successful in the future.’
“When you’re not working in F1, people sometimes don’t understand when you are doing something [for] seven, eight years to get a point in F1. I’ve done that; I want a podium.” Now in its eleventh year of F1 competition, Haas F1 has never stepped on the podium in a Sprint or a Grand Prix.
On-Track Struggles and Aerodynamic Flaws
Haas F1 did enter this season on the back of its biggest-ever haul of points in 2025, but despite early promise, appears to be losing its way. Unlike Aston Martin, the team was on time with its 2026 challenger and scored points in the first three race weekends of the season.
At the time, it was the sixth-fastest team out of eleven, but subsequent upgrades from rivals have seen Haas F1 slip behind the Racing Bulls and Audi. Esteban Ocon is being outscored by his junior teammate Oli Bearman by a tally of 18–3, leaving his future beyond this season in doubt.
Haas did bring an upgrade of its own—developed with Dallara—to Canada, but team principal Ayao Komatsu stated it coincided with the discovery of a “fundamental weakness” in the car regarding a lack of high-speed downforce.
The Toyota Factor: A Future Sale or Synergy?
A new partnership with Toyota has brought the first upgrade to the team’s infrastructure since Gene acquired it from the bankrupt Marussia, with a new wind tunnel coming online shortly. Yet the question remains, as posed by Steiner: What does Gene Haas want to do with his F1 team?
Offered the opportunity to sell out to the Andretti family, who were desperate to enter the sport, Haas repeatedly stated his team was not for sale. According to Forbes, it is currently worth around $1.5B—three times the investment made by Gene to set up and run the team.
Yet unlike Williams, which is spending hundreds of millions to improve its aging facilities, Haas appears happy to continue outsourcing as much of the F1 team’s design and build work as possible, using the Banbury base as a glorified assembly line. The team is now self-sustaining due to increased prize money under Liberty Media and the sponsorship it receives.
Some F1 analysts believe Haas will eventually morph into a new Toyota-named F1 team, given the significant investment the manufacturer is contributing to Haas’s current operations. Building on their initial technical agreement signed in October 2024, Toyota expanded its commitment to become the team’s title sponsor, rebranding the entry for this year to TGR Haas F1 Team.
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A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13, where Andrew oversees editorial standards and contributes to the site’s Formula 1 coverage. A career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media, Andrew trained in investigative journalism and has written for a range of European sports outlets.
At TJ13, Andrew plays a central role in shaping the site’s output, working across breaking news, analysis, and long-form features. Andrew’s responsibilities include fact-checking, refining editorial structure, and ensuring consistency in reporting across a fast-moving news cycle.
Andrew’s work focuses particularly on the intersection of Formula 1 politics, regulation, and team strategy. Andrew closely follows developments involving the FIA, team leadership, and driver market dynamics, helping to provide context behind the sport’s biggest stories.
With experience covering multiple seasons of Formula 1’s modern hybrid era, Andrew has developed a detailed understanding of how regulatory changes and competitive shifts influence the grid. Andrew’s editorial approach prioritises clarity and context, aiming to help readers navigate complex developments within the sport.
In addition to editorial duties, Andrew is particularly interested in how media narratives shape fan perception of Formula 1, and how reporting can balance speed with accuracy in an increasingly digital news environment.
Time will tell & only if Toyota were interested in running a fully-fledged manufacturer team again.