Haas not expecting F1 win anytime soon

BARCELONA, Spain — Gene Haas had a lot to learn when he decided to venture into Europe with a new Formula One team.

One adjustment as a team owner was adapting his standard for success.

In F1, winning has a different meaning if you are not Ferrari, Mercedes or Red Bull. Being the fourth-best team — the best of the rest — is the most Haas can do in the top racing series.

“We really don’t consider ourselves to be a competitor with the top three teams,” Haas told The Associated Press at the Spanish Grand Prix. “I mean, they are so far ahead of us, they are kind of in another universe. So we are just really trying to figure out how to compete in the bottom seven teams. There’s a lot of competition there.”

Haas said “a win for us” is to be running about a second behind the Ferraris and staying in front of McLaren, Renault and Force India. He said the only way for Haas to win a race is if the “stars align” and all the big teams make some mistakes.

“If you can run, say, mid-pack, which would be fourth, fifth or sixth, it’s a good business model, you can actually almost break even. That’s kind of our immediate goal,” Haas said. “We are not running for a championship, we are running for the points.You can’t believe how the teams respond if they get one or two points. To them that’s a podium, getting a few points.”

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen said his seventh-place grid start in Spain felt like “pole position.” His sixthplace finish in the race was the team’s second-best this season.