Gene Haas has 'no doubt' three engines will be enough

Haas team owner Gene Haas has insisted that he has 'no doubt' that the three-engine limit recently implemented by Liberty Media and the FIA will not drastically affect his outfit over the course of the season, and that they will be 'enough' to see them through.

The introduction of the engine limit has been met with many negative responses in Formula One, with Red Bull boss Christian Horner describing it as 'absolutely barking mad' while Honda chief Yusuke Hasegawa called it 'unreasonable'.

However, Gene Haas has 'no doubt' three will be enough.

“I think it’s like anything else – the more seasons you have with an engine package, the more reliable it’s going to become,” the American said.

“I have no doubts they can do the season with three engines. Plus, there’s not going to be this tremendous need for upgrades because the engine horsepower has somewhat plateaued.

“I don’t think Mercedes or Renault is going to be that much farther ahead or behind Ferrari. I think they are all within a half-a-percent of one other.

“I think from a reliability standpoint, Ferrari is excellent.”

Haas went on to reveal that other Formula One teams have contacted him with regards to purchasing some of their automation equipment, which has become increasingly popular in NASCAR.

"We do it in NASCAR a lot, and a lot of our competing teams use Haas Automation equipment," Haas continued.

"We've had Formula 1 teams ask about how to procure equipment from us, and if we weren't there, that's probably something that wouldn't have happened.

"If we can compete at these high levels, that gets us the notoriety we want for Haas Automation.

"On the marketing side of it, we bring customers to the races and that works really well because - especially in Formula 1 - it's pretty much impossible to even get into the pits unless you know a team, so we're bringing a lot of our special customers only to these racetracks.

"It makes them feel special, and that translates into their perception of us and how they relate to people in their industry.

"It just kind of builds on itself that this is a top-notch team in association with a top-notch machine tool builder, and that's the whole thing - the association of quality, performance and winning machine tools.

"There's a lot of interest, and it's good to keep people engaged - not just on the machine tool side, but on the racing side as well, and merging those things together."