Ferrari-Haas collaboration raises questions

Toto Wolff believes that the rules for the technical cooperation of the championship teams should be revised.

The progress Haas F1 has made this year in particular raises questions among rivals: If the US team was a clear outsider last season, they are now regularly claiming points.

At the same time, Haas is acquiring all of the components that the regulations allow to receive from outside suppliers from Ferrari and using all of its resources exclusively to develop those components that the teams must make themselves.

That. The powerplants, gearboxes and suspension parts of the Haas F1 and Ferrari are the same, although they are not very similar in appearance, as they still have different aerodynamic body kits.

At the same time, Haas’ design department is located directly in Maranello, many specialists have been transferred from the Scuderia, including Technical Director Simone Resta, and the team uses a Ferrari wind tunnel.

However, this is not the only example of such a collaboration: AlphaTauri is conducting its research in the Red Bull wind tunnel and Aston Martin is currently working with Mercedes, as the new Silverstone team’s wind tunnel has not yet been completed.

At a press conference in Melbourne, Toto Wolff was asked whether the rules for such alliances should be changed.

“I think they need to be reformed because we want to avoid discussions like those that have unfolded lately,” said the Mercedes team head. – All teams deserve good results, and if someone has done a good job, they should be rewarded for it.

But examples where people move from one team to another but work in offices in the same location, or when two teams use the same production base, only create unnecessary disputes.

Two years ago, when we let an Aston Martin (then Racing Point) work in our wind tunnel, it caused a storm, although we tried to follow all the rules as best we could.

But in the future it will be necessary to revise these rules so that the teams do not have the opportunity to work together in the forms in which they perform it today.

The FIA ​​keeps a close eye on how the teams interact with each other, and Haas F1 head Günter Steiner assured that their relationship with Ferrari does not go beyond what the regulations allow: “Federation representatives visit us more often than you do.” thinks. They come with checks and we want them to come to us. Let the critics have as much fun as they want.”

Wolff’s concerns are also shared by Alpine F1 chief Otmar Szafnauer: “Everything is very clearly worded in the regulations, but the problem is that it is not easy to check compliance with the rules. And if this cannot be verified, the rules should be changed so that all teams are on an equal footing.

The discussion on this topic should continue with the participation of the FIA, and maybe the rules should be adjusted a bit… It’s a bit surprising how high such a small team like Haas has stood. But I have faith in the FIA, the federation will figure everything out and find out how similar Haas and Ferrari cars are.”

Andreas Seidl, team principal at McLaren, shares the same view: “From the FIA ​​we know that some moments are difficult to follow, but if it is impossible to check compliance with some rules then it should be banned.

For two reasons: first, the satellite teams are getting too competitive against us, and second, the top teams they work with are also benefiting, which is even more of a concern to us.

We only hope that the dialogue currently underway between Formula 1’s management and a number of teams will lead to certain actions being taken in the coming years to rectify this situation.