(Motorsport-Total.com) – After a strong start to the 2026 Formula 1 season, Haas openly admits that over the course of the year it has been overtaken and outdeveloped by its competitors. Nevertheless, team principal Ayao Komatsu and Oliver Bearman remain confident that the team can soon reconnect with the field.
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Haas started the season strongly, scoring points in the first three races – including a fifth place for Bearman at the Chinese Grand Prix. However, as the season progressed, the team was caught by its competitors, struggling with an inconsistent car and a slower upgrade rate compared to midfield teams like Alpine and Racing Bulls.
“2025 was really the first year for us, or one of the few years, where we seemed to have good pace throughout the year,” Bearman explained ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, emphasizing: “We even improved our relative performance over the course of the year.”
“2026 is now more like what we have seen from Haas in the past: an incredibly strong start with a really fast car as a base, but we are not able to improve as much as the others,” said Bearman.
“Honestly, we have been overtaken at the moment. We are the tenth best team. That really hurts, me and everyone else. We have really worked hard to prevent that, but this is the reality we are currently in,” he stressed.
As an example, the team has not scored points since the Monaco Grand Prix in June, when Esteban Ocon brought his car home in ninth place. Since then, Haas has struggled with inconsistencies, which has affected the ability to get the best out of the 2026 car.
Why Komatsu is not giving up on the VF-26
Nevertheless, team principal Komatsu is confident that Haas will soon find solutions to the current problems. “In the last two years, we have proven to ourselves and to the outside world that we can develop the car. We have the people, the technical department works,” Komatsu said ahead of the race in Zandvoort.
“For us to even have a chance to keep up with the others, everything has to be perfect due to the size of our team. But that is simply not realistic in life. And the Montreal upgrade was not perfect. Some parts worked, some made the car faster, but some were not perfect. In fact, it also made drivability more difficult.”
“We are learning from that. And what is the goal for the rest of the season? For me, it is the same as in the last two years. We have to prove to ourselves that we can identify the key problems, solve them, and then bring them to the car to move forward,” Komatsu said.
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Due to the difficulties, Komatsu said he is now being confronted with questions about when Haas will give up on the 2026 car and shift focus to next year. However, this is not an option for the team. Instead, they will work on finding performance in the VF-26 – a step that will benefit the team in the long term.
“If you say: ‘Okay, we started well in 2026 but are fading, it’s the first year of the rules. So we continue and look to 2027’ – then we have not solved the fundamental problem. If we do that, it does not give people confidence,” the Japanese explained.
“They have to believe in themselves. One of the main drivers for the way they approach things as a team now is the confidence and cohesion they have gained over the last two years. That’s why we are developing out of that.”
Why Bearman is “very skeptical” about the update
To develop out of the problem, the team will bring new parts for the VF-26, which Bearman says will come to the track “soon.” “We have new parts soon, but in a way, we are very skeptical. We have discrepancies at a race like Budapest,” he explains.
“We have discrepancies in downforce on the scale of an upgrade. If I had the car I had in Spa here [in Zandvoort], it would be like putting an upgrade on the car,” Bearman describes.
“An upgrade costs many millions. If we figure out how to make our car work, that’s free. If we get the upgrade but it doesn’t work, it’s like we didn’t get it. Many factors play a role, it’s a big challenge,” he emphasizes.
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Looking ahead to the next race in Italy, Bearman believes Haas could at least take a step and rise to the ninth fastest team in the field. Despite a radical overhaul of the Aston Martin AMR26 in recent weeks, which has seen the team rise from the back of the field, the Brit says Haas should have an advantage over the British team in Monza.
“We expect to beat [Aston Martin] in Monza because it’s a power track,” Bearman said. “But in Hungary, they were faster than us, or at least more consistent. Those are the facts. That’s the situation. It really hurts to say this here, but that’s how it is,” Bearman said.
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