'Three teams ask FIA to investigate ties between Ferrari and Haas'

Haas has dangled at the bottom for two years, but now that the American team can be found at the top of the timesheet again, many eyes are on the team again. According to Auto, Motor und Sport three teams have asked if the FIA would investigate why they have suddenly improved.

The concept of Haas

Ever since Haas made its entry into Formula 1 in 2016, there has been a fuss about Haas' model. The team pushes the limit when it comes to partnerships. For example, before the first season in 2016, it bought all the parts from Ferrari that it was allowed to buy according to the rules, which meant that there were almost two extra Ferraris on the grid.

Haas has not changed that approach over the years. The FIA does designate certain parts that teams must develop itself, but Haas saves as much development cost as possible. The technical team, which consists of only 300 people, is even located next to a Ferrari factory.

This is where the suspicion of many other teams lie. How can such a small team with so few resources still come up with such a good car? Especially the overlap between the VF-22 of Haas and the F1-75 of Ferrari is surprising according to many. Transfer of information is not allowed, but not everything can be checked just like that.

Collaboration with Ferrari

Other teams are concerned that there is more than just a business understanding between Ferrari and Haas. Many Ferrari engineers lost their jobs at Ferrari due to the budget cap, but were placed with Haas. Haas was already working on the 2022 car from January 2021 and they also had the most time in the wind tunnel. Whereas the other teams only started in mid-2021, Haas was well advanced in their development by then.

Although Haas is not allowed to share data with Ferrari, the transfer of information does not have to be large to be of value. If someone within Haas told someone at Ferrari that they no longer needed to research a certain concept in the wind tunnel, that saves Ferrari a lot of time. The fact that the two teams have arrived at an almost similar concept therefore raises many questions.

Complaining F1 teams

According to AMuS, three teams have asked the FIA if further research can be done on the similarities between the VF-22 and the F1-75. Of course, no team is raising its hand, but the three, according to the German medium, are probably among the teams that previously complained about Haas and openly questioned the FIA's guidelines: McLaren, Aston Martin, Alpine and Mercedes.

Those teams are hoping that the FIA can do something about the transfer of information and the buying up of various parts. McLaren, for example, believes that each team should have its own wind tunnel, while Franz Tost of AlphaTauri would find this ridiculous from a cost point of view. It keeps the minds busy, and again Haas is at the centre of this conversation.