Dave O’Neil leaves Haas and will be replaced by Geoff Simmonds

Haas is starting to resemble other teams: in the middle of its second year, it has to deal with the departure of key members. This is the case this weekend with the announcement that Dave O’Neil, the team’s sporting director, is leaving the team for personal reasons.

Thus in a press conference, Günther Steiner, the director of Haas, acknowledged this departure: « David is leaving for family reasons. He has moved to the United States and that did not suit us. He will stay for a few more races and then he will be gone. »

Initially, the leader wanted to remain very discreet about the replacement of the person who had joined the team at the end of 2014 to prepare for last season’s grid arrival. But during the same press conference, Cyril Abiteboul also acknowledged that he had to face a departure in the coming weeks, in the person of Geoff Simmonds: « Yes, I can confirm it. We might make an announcement about him. Geoff is an important person at Enstone. Not only for Renault and Lotus but also Benetton before. Geoff has been part of the Enstone family. We need to prepare a big farewell party, even if he might not be going far. »

The look between the two team directors clearly showed that they were both concerned with the same movement in the transfer market, especially when considering that there are less than 30 km between Banbury (Haas’s European base) and Enstone (Renault’s headquarters).

Furthermore, Günther Steiner also indicated that the team is still looking to increase its number of employees since the team has fewer than 200 people. The stated goal is to grow by 10 to 15% (i.e., around thirty additional people) while maintaining the flexibility that is currently its strength.

From our special correspondent at Spa-Francorchamps