Gene Haas believes his Formula One team still needs to do more before it can start to attract serious sponsorship deals.
The American owner said the team has received interest already, but nothing has been put in writing yet.
Haas has from the start made it clear the team is in Formula One for the long run and, in the future, that could include building the car in-house, with the outfit currently working alongside Dallara, and attracting sponsors. But the team still has more to do before it takes the next step forward.
“I think we will have a couple of associate sponsors, but I think we still have to prove we can race at this level,” Haas told ESPN.
The team had a mixed debut year in F1 last year. Though the team did finish eighth in the championship, they struggled with a number of issues in the second half of the season.
Once the team improves, though, Haas believes sponsorship opportunities are possible.
“There’s always been a lot of interest from the NASCAR side about F1,” Haas said. “I think there’s a lot of curiosity from people who would like to come to the races and find out what it’s all about because it’s interesting. I’ve seen a lot of interest from people, individuals, who have encouraged us in what we’re doing.”
The American team may still be getting to grips with F1 but, according to Romain Grosjean, they have the facilities to build their own car in-house. Though they will still be using Ferrari components and a Dallara chassis, Grosjean believes the team has the capacity to build their own car
“We’ve got a factory ready in Kannapolis, there is a whole factory ready to have a Formula 1 team and build a car,” Grosjean told Autosport.
