F1: Haas already working on 2017 car

Gene Haas, the American tycoon whose company is bankrolling the launch of a new Formula One team this year, has revealed that his designers are already at work on their 2017 car.

"We were working on the 2017 car at the end of last year as soon as the design of the 2016 car was locked down," says Haas. "The design doesn't really get locked down until just before the cutter touches the mold, but once the window shut on the 2016 design we moved on to the 2017 car."

Even though the 2017 regulations have only just been finalized, Haas says that at the end of last year his designers were "working on things like the cooling and brake ducts, as there's always a lot to do in those areas." He added that the first time this year's car was assembled was at pre-season testing in Barcelona last month.

Over the eight-day period, Haas drivers Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez completed a total of 474 laps, which is equivalent to around eight race distances. In contrast, Manor, the most recent addition to the grid prior to Haas, missed the first race of the 2015 season due to software problems after it was rescued from administration at the start of the year.

Time has been the key to Haas' success so far. In mid-2014, he decided to delay his F1 entry from 2015 to 2016, and in turn his team didn't have to sign up to the regulations until late last year, which meant that it could test for longer without restriction. It also gave Haas time to snap up Manor's equipment at bargain prices when it went into administration.

"We have had enough time to get it right," he said. "The extra time we had has allowed us to negotiate and purchase a lot of the infrastructure that we didn't have. The good news is that almost everything is brand-new so hopefully over 10 years it will be well worth the investment."

His shopping list included Manor's factory in the UK, which now houses around 250 Haas F1 staff. The design division is based in North Carolina at the premises of the championship-winning Stewart-Haas NASCAR team, which Haas co-owns.

He is also taking advantage of a new regulation which allows teams to buy more parts than before from established F1 marques. Buying in more parts reduces start-up costs, and Haas is using a Ferrari engine with a chassis made by Dallara.

It drove the start-up costs of its UK division to just $14.2 million in its first five months which is low by F1 standards. However, F1's chief executive Bernie Ecclestone has said Haas will need to spend much more than that. "A billion would last a new team owner four years," he said in 2014.