The Maserati Trident could be set to return to F1 for the first time since the 1950s as the brand plans to take over naming rights for Haas
Italian premium carmaker Maserati could return to Formula One as early as next year, taking over naming rights for the Haas team.
Sources insist Sergio Marchionne, who is CEO of both Ferrari and Maserati’s parent company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, is preparing to send the Modena brand back to the Formula One fray for the first time in nearly 60 years.
The deal will give Haas, the sport’s only US team, its first major sponsor after two self-funded years in the sport, with Maserati paying a rumoured €20 million a season to paint its Trident on dark blue engine covers.
Effectively, the deal would pay all of Haas’s Ferrari V6 powertrain costs. Like Alfa Romeo’s sponsorship of perennial back marker, Sauber, it would effectively see Maserati paying Ferrari €20 million a season, via Haas. The Maserati-Haas outfit will be the fourth “Italian” team on the 2018 Formula One grid, though only Toro Rosso and Ferrari will actually be based in the country.
There is another connection that could be useful to Maserati, with the Haas chassis development and construction contracted to Maserati’s near neighbor (and sometimes collaborator), Dallara, while the team also leases wind-tunnel time from Ferrari.
Far from following through with its threat to withdraw from Formula One, Ferrari seems to be doubling down on the sport at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ expense, creating a three-team voting bloc against the FIA’s proposed changes to its 2019 engine regulations.
Both Haas and Sauber already ran Ferrari powertrains, though only Haas used a current powertrain this season as the cash-strapped Sauber fought on with a 2016 power unit. The new deals will see both teams use current Ferrari powertrain developments, paid for by Ferrari’s former owners, FCA.
