With 20 points from the first six rounds, Haas are firmly in this year’s midfield battle – building on their strong campaign from twelve months ago.
Both Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman have adapted quickly to the team, though the process of acclimatisation will continue throughout 2025.
Still, the Haas duo are already impressing team principal Ayao Komatsu – who responded well to Nico Hulkenberg’s departure by forming his current line-up.
Since arriving at the US outfit, Esteban Ocon has been impressed by Komatsu’s approach and inputs.
Haas optimise results despite VF-25’s limitations
Traditionally, Haas are very competitive at the Australian GP – which returned as F1’s season opener in March.
Due to the characteristics of Albert Park (in addition to Haas’ historically poor mid-season development), the first round is often a happy hunting ground for the team.
Nothing could be further from the truth in 2025, though, with the VF-25 struggling for pace.
In addition to Oliver Bearman’s multiple crashes, Komatsu’s personnel were forced to recover from their unexpected lack of performance.
During pre-season testing, Haas primarily focused on long-run simulations.
This is the same approach that Ayao Komatsu introduced last year – in order to combat persistent tyre degradation issues from 2023.
Because of this, the US outfit were unbothered by their fastest lap-times from Bahrain testing.
They were confident in the VF-25’s pace over a race distance, which they prioritised over chasing headlines with low-fuel runs.
However, when both Haas drivers were eliminated in Q1 at Australia, there was clearly an issue to address.
Both drivers complained about a lack of balance and high-speed performance, both in wet and dry conditions.
In previous years, encountering such a limitation at the beginning of the year could have been terminal.
Thanks to the interventions and new approach implemented by Ayao Komatsu, Haas are now capable of responding swiftly with upgrades.
Well before any other team, the team brought a new floor to the VF-25, which (unlike some early updates) was not circuit-specific, but solely performance-related.
The results was almost instant, with Ocon and Bearman claiming points at the second round in Shanghai.
Ocon praises Haas recovery
On paper, Ocon’s move from Alpine to Haas could have been interpreted as a step down.
Until recently, Alpine were a manufacturer team, compared to Haas, who are customers.
Even with the French team’s choice to use Mercedes engines in 2026, their personnel and facilities are sill superior to those available at Haas.
Despite this, Ocon explains that Ayao Komatsu has the necessary qualities to move the team forward:
“The response to some of the difficulties that we faced and how quickly the people have been able to react,” Ocon explained.
“It’s something I’ve never seen before.
“To come up with an update after two races, from something that we’ve had the diagnostic [for] after the first race, it’s incredible as a turnaround.
“Even Ayao has been very impressed with how we’ve managed to be able to do that.
“He’s a clear leader of this team. It’s been very impressive.
“Also the technical side, he still has an eye on it and has a very good view on where we should move forward. It’s exactly what we need at the moment.
“This team has clearly shown huge progress since Ayao has joined at the lead and it’s great to see.”
Main photo: Simon Galloway/LAT Images
