Home races are always a big deal for drivers and teams in Formula One. They’re weekends of increased media and sponsor activities, extra scrutiny, and added pride flying the flag on home soil.
Most teams are UK-based, making Silverstone their weekend in the spotlight. Ferrari and Alfa Romeo have two home races at Imola and Monza. But this year, no team will race at home more than Haas, with this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix the first of three on American soil.
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“Home,” however, is a tricky concept in F1. Although it races under the American flag and is owned by an American, Gene Haas, the team’s primary F1 base is in the UK. Its chassis is built in Italy. So are its engine, suspension, and brakes. Team boss Guenther Steiner is Italian. Drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen are German and Danish, respectively.
So how American really is F1’s American team? And is the idea of an all-American effort, given F1’s European roots, really feasible?
‘The American global team’
The addition of Haas to the grid back in 2016 was a big deal for F1 in the United States. It was the first time there had been an American team since 1986 (the unrelated Haas Lola squad), and it was seen as a big step forward for the sport’s US footprint.
But from the outset, team boss Guenther Steiner never wanted to do things just because it was the “American” way. There was no pressure to sign an American driver just because it fit the narrative or to stray from the proven formula of the European outfits. As Steiner put it to The Athletic: “It’s about doing what’s best.”
That was why the team set up shop in Banbury, England, taking over an empty F1 factory, and sought talent from the existing European racing scene. It established partnerships with Ferrari for technical support and Italian chassis designer Dallara to help it be competitive from the jump. Although it has ties to the American Haas base in Kannapolis, North Carolina, the racing operation itself was and remains chiefly Euro-centric.
“We do business where it’s best to do business,” said Steiner. “You don’t have to be stubborn, (saying) I’m in one country and do nothing else. No, you need to be thinking globally.”
That global approach does not mean Haas rejects its American identity. Steiner said that Haas was proud to be an American team but felt it was important not to hang the entire project around its nationality.
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“We want to be the American global team,” Steiner said. “You need to be proud of your identity, but not just use that one as this is what makes us great, because you could fail as well. If you do bad, you don’t make America proud.”
Leaning into the US identity
The addition of Haas to the grid in 2016 predated F1’s American boom, fueled by Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” and the modernization of the series by Liberty Media, which acquired the commercial rights to the sport in 2017. But as more and more US fans flock to F1, more opportunities open up for Haas as the only American team.
That sprouted a conscious effort to lean into its US identity, particularly last season when Haas started exploring new title sponsors. After splitting with Russian state-linked company Uralkali in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, Haas had no shortage of American interest.
It landed sponsorships from Chipotle and clothing brand TravisMathew and found its new title sponsor in MoneyGram, a worldwide money transfer company based in Dallas. Steiner found similarities in their approaches – like Haas, the sponsors are proudly American with a very global outlook. “It’s still an American company,” he said. “But they want to grow outside of the States.”
MoneyGram also liked the characteristics it saw in Haas, which chief marketing officer Greg Hall told The Athletic were “so innately American”: a fellow startup operation trying to make a big impact with an underdog spirit. “That’s the American dream, right?”
MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes acknowledged the unique appeal of Haas, particularly in F1’s current period of growth. “The fact we can associate ourselves with the only American team and collectively push for Formula 1 to be bigger in the US adds a lot of value,” he said.
Kevin Magnussen and Haas are never far from the spotlight this week in Miami. (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)Flying the flag
Haas has found itself in the spotlight this weekend in Miami despite not being a genuinely all-American operation. Drivers Magnussen and Hülkenberg are embracing it as Haas’s home race, sporting Miami-themed helmets, and race suits for the weekend. Magnussen, who debuted in 2014 before Haas’ creation and the US boom, said he could feel a difference, noting how much more he is recognized on the street.
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But is that because of Netflix or because of Haas? “It’s both,” said Magnussen when asked that question. “The sport has grown a lot with Netflix and those things. But I think also you see this team has established itself. It’s all positive.”
The affinity with American fans is also a big thing. Since 2017, a “Haas Hill” fan section for the United States Grand Prix in Austin has been located between Turns 18 and 19. The universal appeal of Steiner through Netflix and the team’s prominence in the series has also helped draw in more fans.
The added US appeal for Haas has made weekends like Miami significantly busier for the drivers, particularly with sponsor appearances and activities. But Magnussen thought that was no bad thing: More activities meant more sponsors, which meant more money, which meant more developments to make the car go faster. “So I’m happy,” he said.
How likely is an all-American team?
Haas might not remain the only American team on the grid, however.
After opening an application process in February, the FIA is evaluating new teams for as early as 2025. The most vocal potential entrant has been Andretti Global, led by Michael Andretti, which has already signed an agreement to work with General Motors’ Cadillac brand on the project. The reaction from the current grid has been lukewarm at best due to concerns about the impact it could have on prize money, splitting the revenue between 11 teams instead of 10.
Andretti has already promised the team will have an American driver if it gets on the grid, saying during the GM announcement in January that it would be an “all-American effort.” The team would chiefly operate out of a facility currently being built in Fishers, Indiana, with a satellite base in Europe.
Steiner thought running a team entirely out of the United States would be “pretty difficult” for several reasons: “You would need to build a completely new wind tunnel. You would need to get the people there. And shipping everything, you would be the only one shipping out of America. Everything is doable, but at what price?”
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Haas may not be an all-American outfit in the same way the potential Andretti entry would like to be. Yet its hybrid approach has worked. It has achieved respectable constructors’ championship positions and even snared a shock pole in Brazil. And it has drawn in legions of fans, many new to the sport. All while flying the flag for the United States.
As Steiner put it: “We are Haas F1: an American team, racing on a global platform.”
(Top photo of Kevin Magnussen at the 2022 US Grand Prix in Austin: Gongora/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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