Haas debut no surprise due to Ferrari link, "healthy budget"

Romain Grosjean finished sixth in the American outfit's very first grand prix, having started the race from 19th.

And according to Booth, who headed one of three teams that had entered F1 in 2010, the strong form of Haas on Sunday was something to be expected.

Talking to Motorsport.com, Booth, who now runs the Manor WEC squad, said: “Obviously in Formula 1 performance is linked to the budget available.

“They did a great job, don’t get me wrong, but they also clearly have a very healthy budget and went about things in a way that made the debut easier for them.

“With the close link with Ferrari for two years before they made their debut, I think it was very obvious where they were going to be.

"The biggest surprise is where they qualified [19th and 20th]. That was the biggest surprise to me.”

The Manor F1 team had to wait until its fifth season to celebrate its first points finish, but Booth insists that the circumstances in which the Banbury squad had entered the sport were very different to Haas' situation.

“Totally different," Booth said. “When we entered Formula 1, we were told by Max [Mosley] that we could run on 30 million dollars and it didn’t quite work out that way.”