Kevin Magnussen says the office set up last year by Haas and Ferrari in Maranello has benefitted the US outfit's operations and especially the communications between its various departments.
Following the introduction of F1's budget car in 2021, Ferrari reassigned members of its personnel to a Haas hub installed in Maranello.
The office's team, led by ex-Ferrari senior designer Simone Resta, was responsible for designing Haas' new-generation VF-22 car.
While the relationship between Haas and Ferrari hasn't changed since the unit was set up in Maranello, Magnussen noticed upon his return to the team this year that the hub has helped to centralize communications which in turn has had a positive impact on Haas' operations.
©Haas
"That’s been a nice change in the team, the year I’ve been away they’ve moved," said the Dane.
"It’s a bigger group now in Maranello, I think that helps communication between the different departments, just being able to go and talk to each other.
"Our team for all those years have been spread out over the world: in the US; and then two places in Italy and one in England, so very spread out.
"And I think in terms of communication, it makes it easier when you can just go to mate’s desk and have a chat.
"So, it’s better, and it’s also grown, and we have more people and it feels better. And, of course, the car shows that too. So it’s in a good place Haas are pointing."
Haas' close ties and technical collaboration with Maranello has often been frowned upon by its rivals.
But earlier this year, team boss Guenther Steiner made clear that his team's relationship with Ferrari isn't less regulated because Haas now has an office on the Scuderia's campus.
"The relationship I would say hasn't changed dramatically, we've always had a good relationship," Steiner said.
"The relationship is also regulated by the FIA's rules. You cannot do more just because we are sitting in Maranello
©Haas
"But the relationship, the collaboration hasn't changed [for] better or worse. It's very much the same. It's just now we are sitting inside Maranello with a large group of people.
"We always had people in the wind tunnel office, because we have got two offices now in Maranello, one in the wind tunnel and one where the designers and the aerodynamicists are in the week.
"But when we are in the wind tunnel session, we always had an office that our people could sit down in and not have to stand around just in the control room of the wind tunnel."
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