(TeamPenske.com)
Former Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes that news F1 team entrant Gene Haas is 'mad' attempting to run a Formula One team frim the United States. Speaking at last weekend's Long Beach IndyCar race just day's after Haas' F1 entry was confirmed by the FIA, Montoya said:
'You can't even call it mad because it makes no sense. You are not going to get people from England to move to Charlotte.'
Montoya, who raced in Formula One from 2001 - 2006 winning seven Grand Prix believes that it is unrealistic to get people to move from England to the USA to work in an F1 team. Montoya has returned to IndyCar for 2014, after driving in NASCAR since leaving Formula One.
Montoya believes that Formula One should not forget its European roots as that is where the fan base is for the sport. He said 'You don't keep driving away from Europe.'
For his part, Gene Haas has accepted the scepticism surrounding his bid to run a team in Formula One by saying:
'The only way I can allay that is to go out there and do it. I think we have the flexibility. He went on to say: 'When things don't go right, we go in a different direction, and we do whatever it takes to get things done'.
Haas believes he has the tools with which to succeed in Formula One where the previous American F1 entrant USF1 failed to get off the ground.
Haas is hoping that he can get the team to the grid for 2015 as the first season in Formula One is always the toughest however he has accepted that if they do not have the time to get the team ready then they will go racing in 2016. The team want to be able to compete and get things right and hit the ground running rather then making mistakes in their first season.
Haas finished by saying: 'I've been pretty successful at taking on projects that other people say you can't do'.
©Ben Johnston 2014
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