Haas originally wanted to be a full F1 constructor

Gene Haas has revealed he originally wanted his new Formula 1 team to be a full constructor before deciding to partner with Ferrari.

Haas entered F1 last year, making a big impact with consecutive top-six finishes in the first two races in its history. Having been granted an entry in 2014 but opted to defer its debut by a year, the team owner says he had targeted being a full constructor before realizing how challenging such an approach would be.

Asked if there were times when he wondered what he had got himself into, Haas (pictured at right with team principal Guenther Steiner) replied: "There's no doubt about that because when we first started in Formula 1, the whole idea was that we were going to make everything ourselves.

"We were going to be the traditional constructor where we were going to make our own chassis, suspension, components and aero. But it was a massive undertaking, so we reversed course a bit and said, 'OK, who could we partner with?,' because this is such a monumental task there's no way that we can accomplish this in the eight or nine months we had to do it. So we had a complete change in strategy. That's when we ended up partnering with Ferrari."

The Ferrari partnership sees Haas purchase as many parts as is allowed under the regulations from the Maranello-based outfit, including the power unit, gearbox. and suspension. The team also uses Italian manufacturer Dallara to design and produce its chassis.

Having already set up a NASCAR team back in 2002, Haas says he learned lessons from establishing that team, which struggled in its early life.

"Everything we learned that we did wrong in NASCAR we avoided in Formula 1, and the most important thing was immediately seeing what works and what doesn't work. We learned that the hard way in NASCAR, so when we went to Formula 1 our focus was not so much on how we did things, but who we did things with."

Haas currently plans on unveiling its 2017 car on Sunday, Feb. 26 ahead of the start of pre-season testing a day later at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The team will carry out a filming day with the new car at the same circuit on Feb. 25.