After starting the 2026 Formula 1 season strongly, Haas admits that it has been overtaken and out-developed by its rivals this year. However, team boss Ayao Komatsu and driver Oliver Bearman both remain hopeful that it can catch back up with the pack “soon”.
Haas has traditionally started the season strong, and continued this tradition in 2026 when it picked up points in the first three races – including a fifth-place finish for Bearman in the Chinese Grand Prix. However, as the season progressed, the team has been caught by its rivals as it struggles with an inconsistent car and a slower upgrade rate compared with midfield teams like Alpine and Racing Bulls.
“2025 was really the first year for us, or one of very few years, where we seemed to have good pace throughout the year,” Bearman explained ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix. “We actually improved our relative performance as the year went on.
“Now, 2026 is more of what we’ve seen from Haas in the past, of starting incredibly strong with a really quick car as a base, but not being able to improve like the others have.
“Quite frankly, we’ve been overtaken right now. We are the 10th-best team. It really hurts, myself and all the others. We were working really hard to make that not be the case, but that’s the reality of where we are right now.”
Case in point, the team has not scored points since the Monaco Grand Prix in June when Esteban Ocon managed to bring his car home in ninth. Since then, the team has struggled with inconsistency – which has impacted its ability to extract the most from the 2026 car.
Ayao Komatsu says Haas will not pivot all its resources to 2027 just yet
Photo by: Clive Rose / Formula 1 via Getty Images
However, team principal Komatsu is hopeful that Haas will soon be able to uncover solutions to the issues it is facing.
“So, the last two years, I think we proved to ourselves and the outside world that we can develop the car. We’ve got the people, the technical department is functioning,” Komatsu said ahead of the Zandvoort race.
“For us to have any remote chance of keeping up with the others, because of the size of our team, everything has to be perfect. But that’s just not realistic in anyone’s life. And the Montreal upgrade wasn’t perfect. Some bits worked, some bits made the car faster, but some bits wasn’t perfect. Actually, [it] made the drivability more difficult as well.
“So, we’re learning from those lessons. And what’s the objective for the rest of the season? For me, it’s the same as the last two years. We’ve got to prove to ourselves that we can identify the key issues, we can solve the issues and then put it on the car to move forward.”
As a result of the struggles, Komatsu said he is now fielding questions about when Haas will give up on its 2026 challenger and switch focus to next year. This, Komatsu explained, is not an option for the team and it will instead work to unlock the performance of the VF-26 – a move that will benefit the team in the long run.
“If you say, OK, fine, ‘26, we started well, but tail off, it’s the first year of regulation. Fine, let’s move on, start ’27. We haven’t solved the fundamental issue. If we do that, it doesn’t give confidence to people,” the Japanese engineer explained.
“They’ve got to believe in themselves. One of the main driving factors in the way they’re tackling now, together as a team, is the confidence and togetherness they’ve gained from the last two years. That’s why we are developing out of it.”
Oliver Bearman is hopeful that Haas will have an upgraded F1 car “soon”
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
Haas upgrades “coming soon”
To develop its way out of the problem, the team will bring new parts to the VF-26, which Bearman says will be “coming soon” to the track.
“We have new parts coming,” the Briton said. “We have new parts coming soon, but we’re very sceptical in some ways. We have discrepancies in a race like Budapest. We have discrepancies of downforce equivalent to the size of an upgrade. If I have the car that I had in Spa, here [in Zandvoort], it’s like putting an upgrade on the car.
“An upgrade, I don’t know how much it costs, but many millions. If we can figure out how to get our car to work, it’s for free. If we get the upgrade but it doesn’t perform, then it’s like not getting it. There’s many factors at play, it’s a big challenge.”
Looking ahead to the next race in Italy, Bearman believes Haas could at least move a step up to be the ninth best team on the grid. Despite a radical overhaul of the Aston Martin AMR26 in recent weeks that has seen it jump off the back of the pack, the Briton says Haas should have an advantage over the British outfit in Monza.
“We expect to beat [Aston Martin] in Monza, where it’s a power track,” Bearman said. “But in Hungary, they were faster than us, or at least more consistent. Those are the facts in terms of that. That’s where we are.
“It really hurts to be sitting here saying that, but that’s the case.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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