Gene Haas’ plans to start an American Formula 1 team and join the grid in 2015 could take an important step forward next week after news that he will meet with Lotus co-owner Gerard Lopez.
Haas will reportedly fly to Britain next week where he will meet with Lopez and the Lotus team at their Enstone base, according to Sky Sports.
It isn’t clear exactly what the subject of the meeting will be, but it’s expected that Haas is looking to build a partnership with the financially struggling Lotus outfit with the potential to use some of their resources and facilities, such as their wind tunnel.
Whilst Haas has a full-scale windshear wind tunnel of his own, under the current F1 regulations, they’re banned.
Such a deal would help Lotus financially whilst giving Haas and his upstart a huge boost.
Sky Sports however reports that a potential takeover could be on the cards, with Haas looking to buy a majority stake in the Enstone outfit which finished fourth in the championship last season.
Whilst that would provide Haas with a solid base to start his team, it would go against his own remarks that it will be a US-based team in North Carolina – a plan which has been criticised by many who believe such plans simply won’t work when F1 is a European-based formula.
