How a good – or bad – result affects ‘everybody’ in the team
The drivers might be in one of the most public-facing roles of the team but, like the rest of the field, Haas has of a number of employees to whom the squad’s results mean just as much. A look at the faces of the engineers and mechanics when the cameras switch to the team’s garage after a good performance – or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, a bad outing – makes that clear.
Haines acknowledges that, from an engineer’s perspective, the results have a “big influence on everybody” in the team, adding: “It really makes a difference when you come in on Monday and it’s been a good weekend – we bagged some points, it makes it all worthwhile.
“We’re a small team. We’re punching pretty hard for the size that we are. Everybody is working flat out. Everybody has really devoted a lot to the project and the team and what we’re trying to achieve.
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“It’s not just a job. Going racing on Sunday and getting a result is what motivates most people, if not all, to do what they do. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here – you’d just think, ‘this is insane’, and go and get a job somewhere else! There are far easier ways to earn money than doing this. People do it because they love it.”
This is something that Haines knows all too well. After working in a range of engineering roles over the years in Formula 1 – including strategist and race engineer – he now oversees different departments with a focus on the engineering side of the race team as well as the modelling and R&D groups in Banbury.
“The main role is to gather up all the work that those groups are doing to make sure everything’s coherent and everybody’s working on the same targets, and then give the race team a guideline of what we want to achieve for the race weekend as a whole, whether that’s about set-ups, new parts, fixes, procedural changes – anything that we need to implement,” says Haines.
“When we come back from a race we’ll review it. Then it’s my job to take all of the feedback that I get from the various groups and make sure the subsequent work is all to address the main problems.”
News Summary:
- ‘We’re punching pretty hard’ – The story behind Haas’s strong start to 2024 and how they’re looking to the next generation
- Check all news and articles from the latest Cricket updates.