Respect first goal for American Formula One newbies Haas

The first American owned team in Formula One for 30 years, Haas F1 Team, unveiled their car for the 2016 season on Sunday aiming to win the respect of the paddock.

Veterans Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez will drive the VF-16 for the coming season.

However, having seen other enthusiastic newcomers crushed by the complexities and competition at the top end of the sport in recent years, team principal Guenther Steiner admitted Haas must prove themselves before aiming to challenge the elite.

"First, we need to go out there and show that we can do the job, that we can finish races, that we are respected by the fans and other teams in the paddock," he said.

"Then we want to score points. That is the ultimate goal."

Haas will get their first taste of Formula One action when the first of two four-day testing sessions in Barcelona begins on Monday.

The team based out of Kannapolis, North Carolina, have followed Sauber and Toro Rosso's example by employing Ferrari engines.

"We're a new team, so we looked at what the successful teams were doing to give us a baseline of the direction we needed to go with our design," added Steiner.

"We have very experienced designers who worked hard to develop all the little things from an aerodynamic perspective that, collectively, add up to a lot.

"Our technical partner, Ferrari, provided our power unit, and that really defined the rear end of the car and how big it needed to be."