Haas confirms purchase of U.K. base

Haas F1 Team officially confirmed its recent purchase of a facility in Banbury, England. The 3,655 square-meter building, which was the home of now defunct F1 team Marussia, will serve as the team's European base. The facility will provide Haas F1, which is set to join the F1 grid with the start of the '16 season, with easier and quicker access to its overseas suppliers, such as Ferrari, as well as streamline logistics to F1 venues in Europe. Haas F1 CMO Adam Jacobs said that the next step is to continue to work on the base itself and get it up to speed. "At this point we’ve only acquired the things that make our program better, such as the facility," he said. "All these things help us transition from vision to an actual brand."

The U.K. facility is in close proximity to the Silverstone Circuit, home of the British Grand Prix, in an area dubbed "Motorsport Valley." Six of the nine F1 teams participating in Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix have their HQs within an 80-minute drive of Silverstone. While those teams have all of their resources under one roof, Haas F1 has two facilities on different sides of the Atlantic.

The key to bridge this gap, Jacobs said, is technology and communication. "We’ve got our base here in North Carolina. We’ve got the new facility up in Banbury, and the folks that are working alongside our partners in Italy," he said. "[Technology and communication] plays a significant role. It already has and will certainly continue to play a much larger role to bring everyone together." Jacobs declined to comment on the purchase price of Haas' new U.K. facility. Sports Business Daily