American F1 team has a huge cost cap issue, and it's finally time to sell up

Owner of Haas F1 Team Gene Haas — Photo: © IMAGO

American F1 team has a huge cost cap issue, and it's finally time to sell up

Gene Haas has taken his team as far as he can alone

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Friday 28 August 2026 21:45

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Haas ownership is lucky that racing fans aren't like most sport fans.

In any of the major American sports leagues that sole owner Gene Haas is familiar with, team management admitting that they're the only squad who can't afford to spend up to the salary cap would be humiliating.

We're talking wall to wall 'sell the team' chants, online petitions, being called 'El Cheapo' week-in, week-out on one of the biggest sports podcasts in the country, and more.

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However, when Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu said at Spa last month: "I wish we can [operate at the cost cap]. We're not. It's one of the top priorities on my job list to be able to fund this team so that we can operate at the budget cap. Because that's the baseline, right? We should be achieving that first step."

No national discourse. No fan revolt. Nothing.

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What are Haas' biggest problems?

Komatsu's right, absolutely, that having the same spending capacity as the other ten teams on the grid should be the absolute baseline for an F1 organisation. The fact that they don't, and are openly talking about how it's stunting their ability to develop their car, is borderline embarrassing.

Part of the trouble for the team is that they have a sole businessman as their owner – and one who isn't so wealthy that he can just pour vast fortunes into the team like, for example, Lawrence Stroll can at Aston Martin. Very rich, yes. Hyper rich, no.

As bleak as things are for the team, the Haas Factory Team story in NASCAR might be worse. Just one entry in the 36-car Cup Series field, driven by the team president's son and sitting 32nd on points, after finishing 32nd last year. This might just be what Haas teams do now.

It's clear that Gene Haas loves being involved in motorsport, and has a passion for both F1 and NASCAR. That's great! It doesn't mean that he has to be the sole owner of a couple of struggling teams.

Another part of the trouble on the F1 side is also why it's been so quiet. To have a fan revolt, you need...well, fans. If you're an underfunded F1 backmarker, you don't really get many of those. Maybe they'll follow your drivers if you throw someone popular into a seat, but Esteban Ocon and young Ollie Bearman aren't exactly needle-movers either.

There was some hope in the team's earlier years that being the only American team on the grid could at least drum up some home support, but after a full decade without a single podium finish, they've been joined by another, better-funded, better-branded Cadillac team in the US market.

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Haas's big problem

There just isn't a path forward for Haas to be anything other than bottom feeders on their current trajectory. Development requires money, which means either having a wealthy ownership group or enough success on track to bring in sponsors. Without the development, there's no on-track success – and the cycle continues.

The time has never been better to sell an F1 team, with even Haas valued somewhere in the region of $1.5-2bn. With those sort of numbers flying around, Gene Haas needn't even sell the whole team – something like the 24 per cent stake in Alpine that's flying around would be a good start, or an even bigger chunk if he wanted to cash in while retaining ultimate control.

There are plenty of groups looking to buy into F1 teams (hello Christian Horner, yes, we can see you lurking). For Haas to be anything other than a sad, sub-mediocre vanity project for a man in his 70s, it's time to pick up the phone and talk to some of them.

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