Haas fell from fifth to sixth in the constructors standings after the Saudi Arabia GP, as rivals Williams delivered a strong weekend to claim double-points in Jeddah.
After a difficult opening round in Australia, Haas can be credited with a competitive car – having scored points in successive events at China, Japan and Bahrain.
However, the team’s performance last weekend was a reminder that certain limitations remain.
Team principal Ayao Komatsu aims to make the VF-25 a more complete package over the coming months.
Room for improvement at Haas
In the space of just twelve months, Haas transformed themselves from a team incapable of making mid-season improvements to one of the most effective outfits at bringing upgrades.
The team responded almost immediately to their poor Australian GP with a floor update.
This marked one of the first major upgrade packages introduced across the field in 2025.
Not only were Haas fast to make adjustments, but their package proved effective – with Ocon finishing 5th and Bearman 8th at the Chinese GP.
More points followed in the subsequent events, with the VF-25’s poor tyre degradation and lack of efficiency seeing notable progress.
With that said, especially with other competitive outfits like Williams and VCARB, relative weaknesses remain.
High-speed corners are still an area where the VF-25 loses out to rivals, which was evidenced in clear terms at Jeddah.
Aware of this problems, Ayao Komatsu explains the path forward for Haas:
“Ultimately we just didn’t have the pace to score points. I think our result is a fair one, I think everyone has done their best, so we got the most out of what we have.
“But on this circuit with high-speed corners, sadly our performance wasn’t good enough.
“We’re working on improving the car and understanding how to get performance out of the soft tire, as we need to look at that for Miami.
“All in all, through this gruelling triple-header, I’m happy with how the team is performing. We achieved a great result in Suzuka and Bahrain, so I think we have to look at the bigger picture.
“Let’s reset and go again in Miami.”
Rivals closing the gap
As it stands, Haas should easily match – and potentially improve – their finishing position from last year’s Championship.
Their current battle is for fifth place against Williams. This could be the position Haas compete for throughout 2025, unless Aston Martin or another midfield team unlock a significant step forward.
Indeed, Aston Martin and VCARB are among the teams set to bring updates at the coming events.
Even without updates, VCARB have been far more competitive than their points tally suggests. Approximately 20 points were thrown away due to poor strategy in Albert Park and Shanghai.
Still, this does not mean new components to the VCARB 02 cannot make the Faenza team a bigger threat.
Aston Martin’s next updates will also have the benefit of being developed with their new wind tunnel.
Because of this, Haas can count upon potentially intensifying competition over the coming weeks.
This will only heighten the importance for Ayao Komatsu’s personnel to continue developing the VF-25.
Thanks to their strong start, however, the US outfit can expect to fight for points throughout 2025 – even if they decide to allocate more resources to the 2026 regulations.
