Gene Haas has revealed that his Formula 1 team – which is set to join the grid in 2016 – will in fact have a UK base as well as one in the US.
The American businessman initially planned to base the entire operation out of a newly constructed extension to his North Carolina factory which currently serves his NASCAR outfit.
However as the scope of the project begins to dawn on Haas, a number of changes have been made, one of which includes a base somewhere within the UK’s ‘motorsport valley’ which he says will employ around 250 people.
“I think initially we are going to be hiring around 200, maybe a little bit more than that at 250,” he told the Telegraph.
Haas is keen to stress that the team’s heart will remain in the US with “American smarts” giving their European counterparts a run for their money.
“We really are going to be an American team. We are going to be different,” he added. “There is no doubt about it in my mind because this is how we do things.
“We are going to learn what F1 is all about but I think we have got American smarts as far as racing and we are going to apply that to F1 in our own way.”
