Force India and McLaren want Haas Investigated

Both Force India and McLaren are suggesting Haas F1 team’s relationship with Ferrari should be investigated.

Many pundits including Sky Sport’s Martin Brundle questioned how similar the Haas car was to last years Ferrari whilst in Melbourne.

The speculation warmed up when the Haas team locked out the third row of the grid and then went on to run in 4th and 5th whilst looking for a possible podium.

However, both cars experienced bad pitstops forcing retirement to Magnussen and Grosjean.

Ferrari supply the team with parts and Dallara, Haas’s chassis partner, allow the team to use their wind tunnel.

The sporting regulations state that the passing on or receiving of information on parts teams are supposed to produce themselves are not allowed to take place.

McLaren executive director Zak Brown said: “It’s something that needs to be looked at closely.

“I don’t have any evidence - we all know they have a very close alliance with Ferrari and I think we just need to make sure it’s not too close.

“There could be some influence, there’s certainly some parts of the car that look very similar to last year’s car.

“But that’s for the engineers and the FIA to look at more closely.”

Fernando Alonso echoed these words saying the Haas is a “Ferrari replica”.

Meanwhile, further down the garages, Force India chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer supported McLaren’s claims.

“I don’t know how they do it, it’s magic. It’s never been done before in Formula 1.

“I just don’t know how it can be right that someone who’s been in the sport for a couple of years with no resource could produce a car, does it happen by magic?

“If it does, I want the wand.”

This is a story that could certainly turn toxic very quickly.