Haas F1 Team: 'We are not here to be last'

AUSTIN, Texas -- Formula 1 has a storied but tempestuous history domestically, and leader Bernie Ecclestone’s recent ruminations on it reveal a dichotomy.

In an interview with Russian television in which he said he was “not very enthusiastic” about America’s affinity for democracy, but before a press briefing – and being told two reporters he was about to meet were “the Americans” – he espoused a desire for four domestic races, particularly one in Southern California. The state of Texas announced recently that it will reduce its contribution to the staging of the Austin race by 20 percent, likely endangering it.

Haas F1 Team owner Gene Haas has espoused a hybrid of patriotism and pragmatism in launching the team, but has tempered expectations even with the Ferrari affiliation and signing an experienced but potential-laden prospect in Romain Grosjean as lead driver. Ferrari factory driver Esteben Gutierrez was announced as his teammate.

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“I think so far he’s doing everything right,” Zak Brown, executive chairman of Just Marketing, Inc., told USA TODAY Sports. “Obviously, we haven’t seen the product on the track yet, but his alignment with Ferrari was very good, getting Grosjean was an excellent move, team principal Guenther Steiner is very experienced. They’re keeping their head down and just getting on with it.

“They’re not making bold and brash predictions like when BAR (failed team British American Racing) came (in 1999), they said they would win their first race. He has the money to do it. He has the people in place, so I think he will make a good impression. Like all new teams (it) will take some time, but I think he will be respectable and here to stay and I think that will help North America, because I think people want to support the local team. I think it will be good for them and F1 in North America.”

Haas said his immediate goal is to prove his team is logistically capable of competing each week, nabbing points when possible. Steiner fantasizes about “mid-pack,” somewhere around the top 10 in a field that usually has 20-some cars. Next season, a record 21 races are scheduled.

“We are not here to be last. It sounds almost arrogant,” he said. “I don’t want to be arrogant, but we will not (be) happy being last. Just participating is not what Gene or the team wants to do.”

Ecclestone, holding court amid a raft of tables in the F1 communications office, surrounded by vases of yellow roses – one of the few subtle visual cues the U.S. Grand Prix was being held in Texas – and Martini glasses of cashews – said a competitive Haas F1 Team would be a boon for the series’ reach into North America. But even then, he didn’t gush about it.

“Super,” he said. “Competitive: good.”

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Haas admits that Ecclestone, whom he described as the “Godfather of Formula 1” because of his power and often cryptically coded dialogue, worried him when he first expressed interest. Meeting Ecclestone at the USGP in Austin three years ago was among the first of many checkpoints Steiner helped Haas negotiate.

“I think he’s got his own agenda, but he’s certainly not afraid to speak his mind,” Haas said of Ecclestone. “I think he can scare a lot of people when he speaks his mind. He scared us quite a bit.”

But he couldn’t scare him off. And that might eventually be to the benefit of Formula 1.

Follow James on Twitter @brantjames