Haas: No second thoughts over Formula 1 entry

The collapse of Caterham and failure to impose meaningful cost caps has left the bigger outfits plotting a franchise car plan in case other outfits are also forced out.

But despite ongoing negativity surrounding budgets, Haas team principal Gunther Steiner said that his boss Gene Haas was committed to the F1 project, although was keeping a watching brief on developments.

"I think it [the financial situation] will keep on changing and being discussed – and to make everyone happy will be difficult," Steiner told Motorsport.com. "

"We are not actively involved as we have no voting rights or anything, but we are following absolutely what is going on. Gene absolutely keeps an eye on it.

"But we made a decision to go into this adventure. We knew what it was going to be, so it is not a surprise and there is not a big change.

"We will keep an eye on it and see what happens, but these discussions will never finish. And once we have a voice, we will have our own opinion as well. At the moment we are spectators."

Chassis design ready by summer

Haas is currently ramping up its F1 programme, with more staff being recruited to its British base in Banbury.

Steiner said the car was on schedule, and it was hoped that the chassis design could be completed by September so that the team was ready to join the first pre-season test next year.

"We are buying all the parts we can, the non-listed parts, from Ferrari," he said. "It is a long list, but the main things that we are making are the bodywork and the chassis.

"We plan to sign the chassis off for production in August/September. The bodywork will be later."

He added: "You cannot afford to miss any tests. The test calendar is not official yet, so we have to be careful not to jump to any conclusions as it could change, but we want to be at the first test."