Formula 1's Ross Brawn believes the way in which Haas entered the sport and operates is an important model for the future of F1, despite some teams taking issue with it.
The American team entered F1 in 2016 and immediately impressed with a sixth place finish at the season-opening race, which was followed up with fifth in Bahrain, helping the team to eighth place in the standings in its debut year.
The team has gone from strength to strength and secured its best ever result last year with fifth place.
However some teams have questioned the model by which Haas operates. The team has a close relationship technical relationship with Ferrari and buys all non-listed items from the Italian team, as well as using its facilities.
Whilst the model is legal, question marks remain over the closeness of the relationship with Ferrari – although Haas aren't the only team to have links to a manufacturer. Alfa Romeo, Racing Point and Toro Rosso are all aligned with other teams, although to a lesser extent than Haas.
Brawn though believes the model is important to attracting new teams to F1, but admitted some tweaks might be needed to ensure it isn't exploited.
"The Haas model is interesting," said Brawn. "It has been very successful and it’s something we have to maintain for the future, for it to be possible for a small team to be able to come in and be pretty respectable.
"There is some trimming we need to do to what they have been able to do. I don’t see a big change in the Haas model [post-2021].
"But we need to make sure we remove the doubt some teams have about their co-operation with the big team, which is Ferrari. We need to make sure it’s well defined and everyone knows what you can and can’t do.
"There are grey areas we need clarity on. Haas is a good model, we don’t want to spoil it, but we want to make sure of its place in F1."
