The team's origins lay in an autumn 1984 agreement between Carl Haas and Beatrice Foods, a major US consumer products conglomerate. With that financial backing secured, Haas established a design and construction company called Formula One Race Car Engineering, known as FORCE, in a disused factory in Colnbrook, England. Though Haas chose to enter cars under the Lola constructor name — drawing on his established relationship with the British firm Lola Cars International, of which he was the official US importer — Lola played no actual role in designing or building the cars. The arrangement was primarily one of brand association.
The team's technical personnel included several figures who would later become prominent in the sport. Lead designer Neil Oatley had previously worked at Williams, while Ross Brawn served as the chief aerodynamicist. A young Adrian Newey also passed through the team, contributing to the design of the second car.
For 1985, the team signed 1980 World Champion Alan Jones, coaxing him out of retirement. The arrangement with Ford for a new turbocharged V6 engine designated TEC was in place but far from ready when the season began, forcing Haas to run Hart Racing Engines' four-cylinder turbocharged units in the interim. The team made its debut at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where Jones qualified 25th and retired early with engine failure.
The remainder of the short season produced little in the way of results. Jones qualified at subsequent rounds but mechanical failures brought retirements, and the team's inexperience in Formula One showed clearly. A notable exception came at the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, where Jones recovered from a grid stall to charge through the field before a late electrical failure ended his race.
The 1986 campaign brought the team's second car, the THL2, designed with the promised Ford engines in mind. Patrick Tambay joined Jones as the second driver, the Frenchman having previously won Grands Prix for Ferrari in 1982 and 1983. Early rounds again required using the Hart engine while the Ford units were completed, but once the THL2-Ford combination was deployed it showed genuine promise in terms of handling characteristics.
The season's best results arrived in Austria, where mechanical failures among rival teams allowed both Haas cars to score championship points. Jones finished fourth and Tambay fifth — the team's only points finishes — and Jones added a further sixth-place point at the Italian Grand Prix. Tambay also produced a strong seventh at the inaugural Hungarian Grand Prix, having qualified sixth.
However, mounting financial difficulties undermined the effort. A change of senior management at Beatrice in late 1985 led to reduced sponsorship through 1986, and when Beatrice ultimately withdrew its funding entirely — reportedly due to pressure from activists linked to the company's business interests — the team was unable to continue. The firing of Beatrice CEO Jim Dutt was a key factor in the sponsorship collapse. Following the Australian Grand Prix at the end of 1986, Team Haas withdrew from Formula One permanently.
While the cars carried the Lola name for constructor championship purposes, and Lola duly earned the constructor points, the cars were designed and built entirely by FORCE. Their designation was THL — short for Team Haas Lola. Jones drove throughout both seasons, and Tambay joined in 1986. Eddie Cheever made a one-off appearance at the Detroit Grand Prix during 1986 to substitute for the injured Tambay.
Despite modest on-track results, the team occupies a notable place in Formula One history as one of the most credentialed American entries of the 1980s. It helped launch the careers of Ross Brawn and Adrian Newey, two of the sport's most successful technical minds. Carl Haas himself went on to considerable success in American open-wheel racing. The Haas name returned to Formula One in 2016 when Haas F1 Team — an entirely separate American operation, though sharing the surname — became the most recent United States constructor to enter the championship.