A Formula 1 team hadn't debuted since 2010, when three expansion teams showed up on the grid at the same time. In the time since the three have scored a total of two points, both coming from Jules Bianchi's ninth at Monaco for the team now known as Manor in 2014.

When it was announced that Haas F1 would join the grid as an expansion team two years ago, most assumed that they'd follow a similar trajectory. The team had the funding, sure, and with Romain Grosjean would have a proven driver, but finishing tenth or better in a Formula 1 race still seemed like a near-insurmountable goal for any team in its first year of competition. The assumption was only backed up by the team's performance in practice, and a disastrous qualifying session that left the team starting 19th and 20th worsened the concerns.

Then race day came, and despite a disastrous race for team driver Esteban Gutierrez that ended when he collided with Fernando Alonso 17 laps into the Grand Prix, Haas F1 was still able to claim the single most successful debut in recent memory. After the safety car period, Romain Grosjean found himself in the middle of a pack of mid-tier competitors from teams most assumed would far outclass Haas like Scuderia Toro Rosso, Force India and Williams, but despite expectations, he would find himself not only competitive with those entries but quicker. With the Gunther Steiner-run team playing a tire strategy to perfection in their first-ever attempt, Grosjean found himself in sixth with 20 to go, a position he was able to hold to the race's end.

The finish is the first points finish for a debuting team since Toyota in 2002, a program with far bigger resources and expectations, while the eight points scored by Grosjean are enough to slot Haas F1 into fifth in the constructor's championship. America's first Formula 1 team in decades will look to repeat, perhaps even improve, on the result in two weeks, when the series goes to Bahrain.

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