Gene Haas has dismissed claims that his team will effectively be Ferrari's B-team.
While the (Haas designed) chassis is built by Dallara, pretty much everything else on the car which Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez will drive next season, is either built by Ferrari or has the Maranello company's DNA.
However, Gene Haas insists his much anticipated outfit is not Ferrari's 'junior team', the 'Prancing Haas' as it were.
"I don't see us in the 'junior team' team position," he told the official F1 website. "If we are out there we want to beat them.
"We would not back down," he adds. "Of course, I would not mind finishing behind the Ferrari at every race! That wouldn't be bad.
"In this sport technical partnership is one thing and racing another. I don't feel like a junior team and we don't want to be a junior team. A good part of the car is our design, so there is enough to say that we are an independent team."
Asked about the power unit, he admits his team will not have access to the same spec engine as the works team.
"It will be the current spec engine," he reveals. "But it is not only the engine: they are supplying the transmission, the suspension, the shock absorbers... that's a lot of parts."
With Toro Rosso also due to run Ferrari engines, this means Haas will be one of three customer teams.
"It took three months to write a simple contract and to get it signed by a zillion people," he replies. "I think Ferrari and Haas have a very solid relationship. With the time that Ferrari has we are quite well placed in their queue. And if I get the rumour right, Toro Rosso might get the 2015 engine."
So, with the first test just over three months away, where does Haas believe his team will succeed where so many have failed?
"Entering Formula One is a business decision, and actually I am more convinced of that than I was one year ago," he says. "The reception from my customers is just overwhelming. And if they like it, it is good for my business!
"Most teams don't make any money, in the end in NASCAR we were breaking even after three years and last year made a little money. So it is basically about not losing dramatically and on the other hand maximising your revenue sources, and that goes for sponsors and prize money. From my perspective, this is easier to achieve in F1 than in NASCAR.
"In NASCAR to get any money you have to win," he adds. "In F1 if you finish tenth or better you get a percentage, so if you finish among the top ten you at least get guaranteed some money. NASCAR doesn't do that.
"I've been following the sport now for many years and I remember back in 2008 everybody was talking about customer cars: a person would buy a complete car from a race team and go racing. That idea has been in Formula One for quite some time, but ultimately the customer car concept was not approved. That actually was our original plan, but it was not approved.
"Now here we are in 2015 and Bernie has proposed customer cars once again, but right now we are something of an 'in between' thing. Basically we try to purchase as much as we can - not just from Ferrari, but also from other manufacturers. Most of the teams build everything by themselves, but we are trying to find people who are supplying us with all that. We try to minimise what we have to manufacture. That is what we did in NASCAR. That is the whole idea. So the idea of what we are doing is not new - we are just the first who have taken it this far."
Bearing in mind the significant rule changes in 2017, does Haas wish he had delayed his team's entry by another year?
"No, not really," he says. "In this sport there are windows that open and close. I think that in the end it was a benefit that in 2014 we got the licence late in May, so when the question came up to go racing in 2015 or 2016, I think we made the right decision. 2016 worked very well with the Ferrari technical department and we had the chance to do a lot of aero on our car. So I think we will hit the track in 2016 much better prepared than if we had come in in 2015. And if we had waited another year these doors would probably have closed. So as the cars will change almost completely for 2017 I think everybody will be in the same position."
And then there are his drivers, Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez.
"As a start-up team you don't expect to sign up any current champions," he admits. "But we also weren't looking for that. We were looking for people who are on the same page as us. And both Romain and Esteban fit our particular profile. I am sure that they are both very hungry and don't have that 'super ego' like these super champions and they are still young enough to learn. I hope they learn from each other!"
"If we score one point I would be happy," he concludes. "Romain has been scoring points in so many races that he knows how to do it. He said to me, 'If we go out and test the car in February in Barcelona I can tell you after two laps if it is good or not.' And if it is a good car we will score points."
And should the Frenchman give it the thumbs down?
"Then we will scratch our heads a little bit and figure it out... but I am very confident that his thumb will be up!" insists the American.
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