Haas unmoved by FIA wind tunnel inspection

As Motorsport.com revealed, the FIA sent its F1 technical and sporting co-ordinator Marcin Budkowski to the Ferrari factory after the Spanish Grand Prix to check that the Maranello outfit was not in breach of FIA rules.

Budkowski confirmed that everything was in order, and that Ferrari was not gathering any information from its customer.

"We are a child of nobody"

On a visit to the F1 paddock in Montreal, Haas team principal Gunther Steiner said that his outfit was totally comfortable with the situation.

“We were not really involved in that. They went to see Ferrari not us,” he told Motorsport.com. “What we are doing, we develop our car in the wind tunnel of Ferrari.

“It is nothing different from McLaren renting out their wind tunnel or Sauber at one stage even rented to Ferrari. Because we are not in the championship, we are a child of nobody.

“They [the FIA] didn't come to us, and most of what I know I read it on the internet. We were not actively involved. Ferrari didn't ask us anything. The FIA didn't ask us anything.

“We are watching it and it was all fine as far as I know, and we are good.”

Commitment to Maranello

Although Haas has its own state-of-the-art wind tunnel, known as Windshear, the team believes that it is better off making use of the Maranello facility.

“The plan is to use it next year,” explained Steiner. “It is easier to get experienced people in Europe and there are always pros and cons to everything.

“The main thing with Windshear would have been to bring it up to speed. It would have taken too long a time, so development would have started late.”