Gene Haas hits out at F1 ´whiners´

Gene Haas has hit out at criticism from rival Formula One teams, suggesting the sport has “a lot of whiners”.

The new Haas team has made a fine start to its maiden season in F1, Romain Grosjean following up a sixth-placed finish at the Australian Grand Prix by finishing fifth in Bahrain last time out.

However, Grosjean expressed frustration earlier this week at the apparent jealousy of rivals who have highlighted close links with Ferrari as a key factor in his early success.

And team principal Haas told Autosport on Friday: “This place is a soap opera. I think a lot of the teams at the back really don’t understand what competition is. They’re getting maybe a little too fat and happy.”

The American, who founded a successful NASCAR team prior to setting up his F1 team, added: “We never came into this thing to run at the back. We want to compete and that’s what we’re going to do. If people don’t like that then that’s their problem.

“I guess in a sense there are a lot of whiners in F1, that talk about our success. I don’t know what they are complaining about. We are just racing on their turf. If they can’t figure that out they have a problem.

“There have been a lot of obstacles to get to this point and now we’re here, we’re here. We’re not going away and they’d better get used to it, and if people don’t like it that’s their problem, not my problem.”

Addressing his team’s relationship with power unit provider Ferrari, Haas added: “We’ve proven we’re well within all the guidelines the FIA publishes, and quite frankly, I don’t know what people are complaining about.

“We’re here to race, if you want to beat us by complaining that’s just not what it’s about.”

Haas will hope to build on their initial promise at this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix