Roger Penske is "anxious" to see how Haas fares in its maiden F1 season.

The Penske team, which has won 13 IndyCar championships, 16 Indy 500's and a NASCAR title, was the last American outfit to win a Formula One race, doing so at the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix with John Watson. In Australia Haas will become the first American team to compete in Formula One since 1986.

Penske, whose team claimed a one-two at IndyCar's season opener on Sunday, has been invited to attend races with Gene Haas this year and will be keeping a close eye on how the debutants perform.

"I talked to Gene, he's invited to me to come," Penske is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. "I said 'look, I don't know if I can even get a pit pass there' and he said 'I'll get you one'. I'm anxious to see how they do. I don't know how, with the economics, and you hear the kind of investment -- $300million to go to F1, I guess it's the ticket you have to have.

"I guess we're the last American team to win a Formula One race. It's a shame we didn't stay in longer but it was impossible to be in F1, Can-Am, Trans-Am -- we just couldn't do it. I was flying back and forth all the time. Business drove us to the US."

Haas has also invited fellow NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick and reveals he's always had support from Penske about his foray into F1.

Speaking about Penske, Haas said: "He's always wished me well in my Formula One venture because he's done it, a long, long time ago. We've invited him to F1 races, we've invited Rick Hendrick and just about everybody who wants to go to one.

"These guys, being the racers they are, I think they'd be very interested in it. It's a sport that has a whole different twist to [American racing]. I'd love to get Penske and Hendrick out to a Formula One race. I think that would be great."