In Formula 1, Scuderia Ferrari currently has two customer teams with diametrically opposite approaches. On the one hand there is Sauber-Alfa Romeo, whose collaboration with the Prancing Horse will gradually diminish as Audi makes its entry into the sport. The Hinwil team only purchases the power unit and transmission gears from Ferrari, preferring instead to make the gearbox casing, the two suspensions and the steering system in-house.
The choice derives from the desire to enjoy greater design freedom, as well as to reduce purchase costs to a minimum, considering how internal production is economically more advantageous. Haas, on the contrary, inherits from Ferrari every single mechanical component that falls within the transferable components allowed by the regulation, from the gearbox to the front suspension.
However, the collaboration between Haas and Ferrari goes deeper than a simple supply agreement, to such an extent that one of the headquarters of the Italian-American team is located within the perimeter of the Maranello Sport Management.
Journalist Dieter Rencken reported in a recent article for RacingNews365 the report of his visit to the Haas offices in Maranello, describing how the collaboration between the two teams is organised. Entry is regulated through a badge system, so that access to the Ferrari and Haas environments requires the corresponding authorization, avoiding mixing between the employees of the two teams. The wind tunnel, on the other hand, is shared, in the same way as with Mercedes and Aston Martin, as well as with Red Bull and AlphaTauri. However, its use is marked by a pre-set calendar in which each team can access it in dedicated slots, with a separation also of the simulation models and the uploaded files.
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“What we have here in Maranello is a group of designers, aerodynamicists, test engineers and structural engineers, plus some guys involved in simulation. The model makers, are mostly coming in from [chassis-builder] Dallara. [The aerodynamicists] are all Haas members, they are all Haas F1 Team members. We are independent companies who are actually competitors. There are areas controlled by different badge entry, so the badge doesn’t work if you want to go into other places. When you [RacingNews365] came in, you were supported by HR, and if you had a Ferrari badge, you couldn’t come in [to the Haas offices]. The FIA come occasionally but not on a planned basis. They can come in the morning and knock on the door and ask [to tour]. It’s absolutely [a random check].” – Simone Resta said, who therefore also confirmed how occasionally the FIA shows up with inspectors for surprise checks. In addition to verifying that there are no transfers of intellectual property, it is also necessary to ensure that sharing of the wind tunnel is not exploited to circumvent the number of hours of use granted to each team.
Finally, the Technical Director added a few words regarding another aspect of the Haas-Ferrari collaboration: “We don’t have a simulator. We occasionally use the older simulator that is now out of the F1 programme, but that’s only been for select activities. It is a matter of money and investment and we feel this is the right compromise as we only do a small programme on the old simulator.” – Simone Resta concluded.
Being able to count on a proprietary wind tunnel and simulator is an essential condition for success in modern Formula 1 and the investments recently made by Aston Martin and McLaren to catch up with the top teams are proof of this. However, for a team with limited resources like Haas, being able to rely heavily on Ferrari structures is an effective strategy for getting the most out of the result with the little resources available, thus managing to stick to the midfield group.
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