Following a promising start to the 2026 Formula 1 campaign, Haas acknowledges that rival teams have surpassed them in developmental progress this season. Nonetheless, team principal Ayao Komatsu and racer Oliver Bearman are optimistic about closing the gap to the midfield in the near future.
Historically, Haas has kicked off their campaigns on a high note, a trend they maintained in 2026 by scoring points across the opening three rounds—capped by Bearman’s impressive fifth-place result at the Chinese Grand Prix. However, as the championship unfolded, competitors caught up with the American squad, which has battled erratic car performance and a slower pace of updates relative to midfield challengers like Alpine and Racing Bulls.
“The 2025 season was truly our first campaign, or one of the rare instances, where we maintained competitive speed from start to finish,” Bearman remarked before the Dutch Grand Prix. “In fact, our relative competitiveness steadily improved as the year progressed.
“By contrast, 2026 aligns more with Haas’s historical pattern of launching the year brilliantly with a very fast baseline car, but failing to match the developmental strides of our competitors.
“To be completely honest, we have been bypassed at the moment. We currently stand as the tenth-fastest team on the grid. It is deeply disappointing for me and the entire crew. We poured immense effort into avoiding this scenario, but this is the hard truth of our current position.”
As evidence of their decline, the squad has failed to secure a points finish since June’s Monaco Grand Prix, where Esteban Ocon crossed the line in ninth place. Since that weekend, erratic behavior from the chassis has hampered the team’s capacity to maximize the potential of their 2026 package.
Ayao Komatsu indicates Haas will not shift all its development focus to the 2027 car immediately
Photo by: Clive Rose / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Despite these challenges, team principal Komatsu remains confident that Haas will identify remedies for their current performance struggles before long.
“Over the previous two seasons, I believe we demonstrated both internally and to the public that we are fully capable of upgrading our chassis. We have the right personnel, and our engineering division is operating effectively,” Komatsu noted before the Zandvoort event.
“Given the modest size of our operation, we must execute flawlessly to stand any chance of keeping pace with our rivals. However, expecting perfection is unrealistic. The updates we introduced in Montreal were not seamless; while certain components functioned well and added speed, others fell short. In reality, they even made the car more difficult to handle.
“Consequently, we are absorbing those lessons. As for our targets for the rest of the campaign, my outlook remains identical to the past two seasons. We must prove we can pinpoint the core issues, resolve them, and successfully integrate those solutions onto the chassis to progress.”
In light of these difficulties, Komatsu revealed that he has faced inquiries regarding when Haas might abandon their 2026 project to prioritize next year’s design. The team boss clarified that this is not on the table, and they will instead persist in extracting speed from the VF-26—a strategy he believes will yield long-term dividends.
“If we simply shrug and say, ‘Well, 2026 started decently but faded, and since it is the opening year of a new regulatory cycle, let us just focus on 2027,’ we leave our core weaknesses unaddressed. Taking that shortcut does nothing to build confidence within the workforce,” the Japanese engineer remarked.
“Our staff must maintain self-belief. A major reason behind our current collective effort is the trust and unity forged over the previous two seasons. That is precisely why we are working diligently to develop our way out of this slump.”
Oliver Bearman remains optimistic about forthcoming upgrades for the Haas F1 car “soon”
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
Upgrades for Haas “on the horizon”
To push through their developmental bottleneck, the squad intends to introduce revised parts for the VF-26, which Bearman indicates should debut on track in the near future.
“New components are on the way,” the British driver commented. “We expect updates shortly, though we approach them with a degree of caution. At races like Budapest, we observed performance variances where downforce discrepancies matched the scale of an entire upgrade kit. If we could run the car with the exact performance characteristics we had at Spa here in Zandvoort, it would be equivalent to bolted-on updates.
“Developing physical upgrades costs millions of dollars. If we can simply unlock the potential of our existing car, that performance gain is entirely free. Conversely, if we install new parts and they fail to deliver, it is as if we received nothing. Numerous variables are involved, making this an immense test for us.”
Anticipating the next round in Italy, Bearman believes Haas has a realistic shot of climbing at least one spot to become the ninth-fastest team. Despite significant recent revisions to the Aston Martin AMR26 that helped them escape the rear of the grid, the young Briton expects Haas to hold a competitive edge over the Silverstone-based squad at Monza.
“Our goal is to outpace [Aston Martin] at Monza, which is a high-speed, power-dependent circuit,” Bearman stated. “However, they had the upper hand in Hungary, showing better consistency than us. Those are the plain facts of our current competitive standing.
“It is quite painful to sit here and make that admission, but it is our current reality.”
