Ferrari announced last week that Resta would join Haas ahead of the 2021 F1 season, which means strengthening the technical ties between the two teams.
Haas has been a Ferrari customer team since joining Formula 1 in 2016 and has used as many of the listed parts as possible on his car.
The two teams are expected to move even closer together starting next year after Resta’s arrival. The Italian first came to Ferrari in 2001 and briefly served as Technical Director at Alfa Romeo in 2018 before returning to Maranello.
Haas F1 team principal Gunther Steiner said last week Resta would take on a senior position in the American squad for 2021, but the exact details have yet to be determined.
“We are still defining the position,” said Steiner.
“Of course it will be a very senior position, of course. Simone has been in a very senior position at Ferrari for a long time, so he wouldn’t come without that position.”
“Without a leadership position, there would be no point in getting there.
“We are restructuring technically because we have fallen a little behind. So it is certainly a big boost that we can get back on our feet in order to achieve the performance of 2018.
“You need good people and Simone was with Ferrari for a long time and then had a short detour at Alfa Romeo. He was available and we took him.”
Haas will add a young Ferrari driver to his line-up for the first time in 2021 when Formula 2 champion Mick Schumacher joins the team.
However, Steiner denied that Schumacher’s signing had anything to do with a closer alliance between the two teams.
“The connection to Mick is not direct,” said Steiner.
“Of course we work very closely with Ferrari, so we had to add to our technical team when we discussed this after we went back a bit with the pandemic last year.
“[Resta] was a good choice, but it has nothing to do with Mick driving for us. “
