Haas F1 Team has signed 17-year-old Santino Ferrucci as its development driver. The American from Woodbury, Connecticut, will be embedded with Haas F1 Team at every opportunity, attending races and tests throughout the year while also participating in the team’s simulator program.

Ferrucci is campaigning the full GP3 Series schedule in 2016 for DAMS, an accomplished racing team that has helped graduate numerous drivers to the FIA Formula One World Championship, including Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean, who earned three championships with DAMS – the 2010 Auto GP title, the 2011 GP2 Asia Series crown and the 2011 GP2 Series championship.

“In Formula One, developing your personnel is as important as developing your racecar. You can’t have one without the other,” said Guenther Steiner, team principal, Haas F1 Team. “Santino Ferrucci has done a very good job of proving himself in each of the racing series he’s competed in, and his maturity outside of the racecar is impressive. We see Santino as a young, American driver with a lot of potential. His opportunity with DAMS is an excellent way for him to further his development while positioning Haas F1 Team for future success.”

Haas F1 Team makes its debut this season, becoming the first American-led Formula One team in 30 years. Each of the nine races comprising the 2016 GP3 Series schedule is in conjunction with Formula One, allowing Ferrucci ample opportunity to integrate himself with Haas F1 Team.

“My goal since I first started racing was to become a Formula One driver, and to be an American who is part of an American team is something I take a tremendous amount of pride in,” Ferrucci said. “There is still a lot of work I need to do, but being paired with Haas F1 Team will allow me to learn more and at a faster rate. It’ll allow me to make the most of my GP3 drive with DAMS and, ultimately, prepare me for Formula One.”

Like many drivers, Ferrucci began his career in karting. At age 5, he was touring the United States and Europe. By the time he was 11, Ferrucci was a multi-time champion.

In 2013, Ferrucci graduated to open-wheel racing, competing in Formula 2000 and the Skip Barber Racing Series. Ferrucci won his Skip Barber Racing Series debut at Homestead-Miami Speedway and collected five victories, two poles and three fastest-lap awards upon the conclusion of the season. In Formula 2000, Ferrucci never finished outside of the top-four in the six races he started, with each field featuring 37 or more cars.

The 2014 season saw Ferrucci in British Formula 3. He won two races, both at Brands Hatch, becoming the youngest race winner in the history of British Formula 3 at 16 years, two months and 30 days.

In 2015, Ferrucci continued to advance in open-wheel, competing in the Toyota Racing Series New Zealand and the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. Ferrucci finished third in the Toyota Racing Series New Zealand point standings on the strength of a win and five podiums, his first full season competing in an open-wheel championship.

Ferrucci’s ascension up the racing ladder continues in 2016 with DAMS in the GP3 Series and Haas F1 Team in Formula One.

The VF-16, Haas F1 Team’s first racecar, has arrived! The car was revealed February 21st to the world motorsport press at the Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya, where it began pre-season testing, February 22nd.

Of all Haas machines with VF nomenclature, this four-wheeled, Ferrari-powered model has been perhaps the most eagerly anticipated since Gene Haas stated his intentions to enter the world’s greatest race series, less than 2-years ago. Haas Automation Inc., the company Mr. Haas founded in 1983, is Haas F1 Team’s principal sponsor and the genesis of the F1 venture.

“From an international standpoint, Formula One is the highest echelon of racing, and Haas Automation builds the highest-quality machine tools,” said Mr. Haas, who has grown Haas Automation Inc. into the largest machine tool builder in North America, with more than $1 billion in annual sales.

“When you hear the words Formula One you know exactly what they stand for: a global racing series that invests in the latest technology and attracts the best talent in engineering and design. Haas Automation has an excellent reputation in the United States – for reliability, innovation, and value for money – and I want that reputation to continue to grow worldwide. Connecting Haas Automation with F1 in name and in practice is the best way to grow our business, and elevate Haas Automation to a premium, global brand.”

The dark grey, light grey, and striking red-toned livery of the Haas VF-16 was derived from that of Haas Automation’s CNC vertical and horizontal machining centers, turning centers, and CNC rotary tables and indexers: a ‘complete’ line of high-productivity CNC products.

The Oxnard, California-based Haas Automation Inc. employs around 1300 people, and exports approximately 60% of its annual production to more than 60 countries. There are close to 185,000 Haas CNC machine tools installed around the world, supported by a network of 170 Haas Factory Outlets (HFOs) – independently owned sales and technical service businesses, dedicated to providing industry-leading support, wherever a customer is based.

The VF-16 demonstrates Haas Automation’s – and Gene Haas’ – commitment to technology and innovation to a passionate, global audience, many of whom are already Haas customers, or who perhaps work in the precision engineering and manufacturing sectors.

“Just as Haas Automation’s CNC machine tools evolve continually, becoming better and more efficient as time goes by, our methodology behind the VF-16 was to make it the best evolution of a good F1 car,” explained Guenther Steiner, team principal, Haas F1 Team. “As we’re a new team, we studied what the successful F1 teams were doing, so we had a strong baseline for the direction we needed to go with our design.

“We need to go out there and show that we can do the job – that’s our first objective,” states Steiner. “Then show we can finish races, that we are respected by the fans and other teams in the paddock and, of course, that we can score points. That’s the goal!”

The VF-16 is being tested on-track at Barcelona Feb. 22-25 and March 1-4, before its debut race, the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, March 20, in Melbourne.

Haas F1 Team is on schedule to make its debut in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship in 2016, becoming the first American-led Formula One team in 30 years.

Getting a start-up team to the grid is a massive logistical and technical undertaking, but under the leadership of team principal Guenther Steiner, Haas F1 Team has many vital pieces already in place despite the 2016 season being a year away.

Augmenting Haas F1 Team’s United States home in Kannapolis, North Carolina, is the recent purchase of a facility in Banbury, Oxfordshire, U.K. The 39,350 square-foot (3,655 square-meter) building will serve as Haas F1 Team’s European base, allowing for easier and quicker access to the team’s overseas suppliers and streamlined logistics for when the team travels to Formula One venues in Europe.

Construction of the team’s equipment, from transporters to the pit apparatus to garage setup, is well underway. Upon completion, all will be housed at Haas F1 Team’s Banbury location.

Key personnel have also been added, notably Dave O’Neill as team manager, Rob Taylor as chief designer and Ben Agathangelou as chief aerodynamicist.

O’Neill came to Haas F1 Team from Marussia F1 Team, joining what was originally Manor GP in 2009. O’Neill’s experience is quite valuable to Haas F1 Team, for his task upon joining Manor was to set up a Formula One team in six months. Recruitment of personnel, 

the purchase of equipment and infrastructure, oversight of car design and supplier selection were just a few of O’Neill’s many duties. O’Neill was the team manager for Jordan Grand Prix from 1998 through 2005 before joining A1GP, a racing series promoted as the “World Cup of Motorsport”. As the chief technical coordinator for A1GP, O’Neill set up the series and track testing of cars. During this time, he also served in the role of team manager for A1GP’s Team Ireland, winning the A1GP championship in the series’ fourth season (2008-2009).

Taylor also joined Haas F1 Team from Marussia, where he held the post of deputy chief designer. Prior to Marussia, Taylor was the senior design team leader at McLaren from April 2006 through December 2010. Before McLaren, Taylor was head of vehicle design for Red Bull Racing, Toro Rosso and Jaguar beginning in 2002. Senior design roles at Arrows (1997-2002) and Scuderia Ferrari (1992-1997) were achieved after stints at Cosworth (1987-1989) and Benetton (1989-1992). Taylor’s role with Haas F1 Team marks his 28th year in Formula One, a tenure that has provided a range of experience in all disciplines of Formula One design.

Agathangelou paired with Haas F1 Team from Scuderia Ferrari where he managed the upgrade of the team’s wind tunnel and testing systems in Maranello, Italy, in March 2012. Prior to that, Agathangelou was with Dallara, serving as an engineering consultant for a number of projects the Italian racecar manufacturer had dating back to 2009, which included the technical lead for the Campos F1 project, 2012 technical upgrades for GP2 and the World Series Renault, design and development of the DW12 Indycar chassis, and management of the Alfa Romeo 4C “low cost” sports road car project. Agathangelou has a wealth of Formula One experience, for he was the head of aerodynamics for Jaguar and later Red Bull Racing from 2002 through 2007. Agathangelou held the same role with Renault F1/Benetton from September 1999 to March 2002. Agathangelou began his Formula One career in 1994 with McLaren as an aerodynamics analyst, moved to Tyrrell in 

August 1997 as senior aerodynamicist and then joined Honda Racing Development in April 1998 as chief aerodynamicist to prepare Honda’s 2000 Formula One entry.

Agathangelou and Taylor have already designed the 60-percent scale model of the car Haas F1 Team will race in 2016. The duo has logged numerous hours in the wind tunnel it shares with Haas F1 Team technical partner Scuderia Ferrari. By working diligently to develop the scale model now, Haas F1 Team will be ready to go racing in 2016.

“While there is still a lot of work to do, a lot has already been accomplished for Haas F1 Team to be competitive when we join the F1 grid in 2016,” said Steiner, a Formula One veteran who was originally recruited by three-time Formula One champion Niki Lauda to join Jaguar in 2001 as the team’s managing director. “Our technical partnership with Ferrari has allowed us to develop our car and our people at an exceptional pace. The way we’re going about our F1 team is new and different, but it’s working. We’re committed to our plan, we’re committed to F1 and, most importantly, we’re on schedule. This time next year, our cars will have already been tested and we’ll be readying them for Melbourne.”

Melbourne, Australia, serves as the kickoff race for the Formula One season. It’s where Haas F1 Team will make its debut following preseason testing. Haas Automation, Inc., the CNC machine tool builder Haas F1 Team chairman Gene Haas founded in 1983, will serve as the team’s primary sponsor.

In addition to Haas F1 Team, Haas’ motorsports holdings include Stewart-Haas Racing and Windshear.

Stewart-Haas Racing is co-owned by Haas and Tony Stewart. The organization won the Sprint Cup championship in 2014 with driver Kevin Harvick to earn the team’s second championship in four years. Driver-owner Stewart won the team’s first Sprint Cup title in 

2011. Stewart-Haas Racing fields four entries – the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet for Stewart, the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet for Danica Patrick, the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet for Harvick and the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet for Kurt Busch. The team operates out of an 18.581 square-meter (200,000 square-foot) facility with approximately 280 employees.

Windshear is a 290 kph (180 mph) rolling-road wind tunnel in Concord, North Carolina, that is the first of its kind in North America. Founded by Haas, it is only the third rolling-road wind tunnel of its scale in existence and the world’s first commercially available, full-scale, rolling-road wind tunnel. Windshear is available for hire to all motorsports teams and auto manufacturers. NASCAR, INDYCAR, sports car and NHRA teams utilize Windshear, as does the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), which has conducted tests on production cars at Windshear.

About Haas F1 Team:
Haas F1 Team will debut in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship in 2016, where it will become the first American-led Formula One team since 1986. Founded by industrialist Gene Haas, Haas F1 Team is based in the United States on the same Kannapolis, North Carolina campus as his championship-winning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team, Stewart-Haas Racing. Haas is the founder of Haas Automation, the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America, and he is chairman of Haas F1 Team.