Motor racing-Haas F1 say no impact from tariffs hitting owner's business

MANAMA (Reuters) - The U.S.-owned Haas Formula One team said they were carrying on as normal despite owner Gene Haas's machine tools business reporting a 'dramatic decrease in demand' as a result of President Donald Trump's trade tariffs.

California-based Haas Automation said in a statement on Wednesday that it had reduced production, eliminated overtime and halted hiring while studying the impact of tariffs on its operations.

"While tariffs will have a significant impact on Haas Automation's business", it added, the company was optimistic that the Trump administration would come up with solutions to provide relief for U.S. manufacturers.

The company employs 1,700 workers at its Oxnard plant and others at factory outlets across the United States.

It said the drop in demand was from both domestic and international customers.

A team spokesman said ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix that the statement had no impact as far as Haas F1 were concerned.

"It's business as usual regarding the team and there is no change to our development plan, recruiting process and other projects," he added.

"To clarify again, no impact to the team."

Haas, who entered Formula One in 2016 and are celebrating their 10th season, are the smallest of the 10 teams on the starting grid.

Formula One teams are subject to budget caps and are financed largely from sponsorship and a share of the booming Liberty Media-owned sport's revenues. Haas use Ferrari engines and also have a technical partnership with Toyota.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Christian Radnedge)