The Haas Formula 1 team, which is run by Gene Haas the NASCAR team owner, has made some key appointments in the technical and aerodynamic departments as they prepare for their debut in 2016.
Ben Agathangelou will take up the role as chief aerodynamicist while Dave O’Niell becomes the team manager. These appointments comes a few weeks after former Red Bull Chief Designer Rob Taylor was announced as Chief Designer at Haas F1.
Agathangelou was recently at Ferrari where he overseen the upgrade of their wind tunnel facility in Maranello. Prior to Ferrari he was Chief Designer at Red Bull until Adrian Newey replaced him. He stayed on at Red Bull until 2007.
Dave O’Niell was previously at Marussia from 2009 where he held a managerial role in the team. Before his time at Marussia He was the team manager at Jordan from 1998 till 2005.
Taylor was at Marussia prior to joining Haas where he held the role as deputy chief designer.Prior to Marussia, Taylor was the senior design team leader at McLaren from April 2006 through December 2010. Before McLaren, Taylor was head of vehicle design for Red Bull Racing, Toro Rosso and Jaguar beginning in 2002. Senior design roles at Arrows (1997-2002) and Scuderia Ferrari (1992-1997) were achieved after stints at Cosworth (1987-1989) and Benetton (1989-1992). Taylor’s role with Haas F1 Team marks his 28th year in Formula One, a tenure that has provided a range of experience in all disciplines of Formula One design.
The team have already built a 60% scale model of the car they will race in 2016 and have logged a considerable number of hours in the Ferrari wind tunnel.
“While there is still a lot of work to do, a lot has already been accomplished for Haas F1 Team to be competitive when we join the F1 grid in 2016,” said Team Principal Gunther Steiner.
“Our technical partnership with Ferrari has allowed us to develop our car and our people at an exceptional pace. The way we’re going about our F1 team is new and different, but it’s working.
“We’re committed to our plan, we’re committed to F1 and, most importantly, we’re on schedule. This time next year, our cars will have already been tested and we’ll be readying them for Melbourne.”
