Gene Haas says his eponymous squad is competing in “Formula 1.5” due to the gulf in performance between the leading trio and the rest of the grid.
Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull have won each Grand Prix in the hybrid era and the gap to the rest has become more pronounced, with only Force India breaking their podium hegemony in 2018.
Haas has made strides after placing eighth in its first two seasons to hold fifth in 2018, and within reach of Renault, but it faces a chasm to third-placed Red Bull.
“I kind of feel like we’re not really racing in Formula 1, we’re racing in Formula 1.5,” said Haas.
“So if we were to finish fourth then that would be a win in our series.
“When I watch some of the races and I see how fast the top three teams just blow by us on the racetrack, you’re just somewhat aghast: wow, how do you we miss that?
“I don’t know how those cars are so much faster but if I talk to [chief engineer] Ayao (Komatsu) and he’ll tell you ‘you’ve got a couple of tenths on your tyres, you’ve got a couple of tenths on your aero, your chassis is off a couple of tenths and there’s your second or two’.
“I know that we’ve put a huge effort into trying to address all those parameters but I just don’t see how we’re ever going to make up a second and a half, two seconds off of these guys.
“They are just so much faster than we are and it’s evident in the race.
“Will a budget cap help? Probably if it reduces the size of their R&D department. I guess for every person we have they have five people.
“Personally, I would think that five people would make it more confusing but it does seem to work.
“If there’s anything that can reduce that gap between the technology they have and what we don’t have, that would probably be very helpful.
“How you go about doing that without the bigger teams somehow have workarounds I don’t know.
“There’s something wrong that… I don’t think we can ever make up that gap.”
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