Anyone entering the Haas F1 hospitality during pre-season testing and claiming that the team would be fourth in the constructors’ championship in April would have been immediately mocked by its team principal Ayao Komatsu.
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And yet, as Formula 1 takes a break after the first three races, the American team is now at the center of all attention in the paddock, solidly positioned ahead of teams like Red Bull Racing, which are struggling.
With 18 points on the board, Haas is only trailing the leading trio of Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren, a spectacular turnaround for a team long accustomed to the bottom places.
The laughter of a pragmatist
For Komatsu, a pragmatic Japanese engineer now at the head of the team, this position is as delightful as it is unexpected: “If someone had told me that we would be fourth in the championship after three races, I would have laughed,” he told Sky Sports F1.
Despite these 18 promising points, Komatsu remains clear-eyed about the challenges ahead. The budget cap has narrowed the gaps, but the development power of the big teams remains a constant threat.
“This year is going to be a very difficult development war, and for a small team, it will be a huge challenge,” he explained. “But we have started the season very well. This kind of result doesn’t happen every year.”
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The strategy is not to defend this position at all costs, but to optimize internal performance: “We are in a very good position, but it’s not about protecting it. It’s not about keeping this place, but about maximizing our potential, analyzing our forecasts, and getting the best out of the car, the team, and our drivers. That’s what we’re going to focus on.”
Bearman shines despite his crash at Suzuka
Much of Haas’s success at the start of this season rests on the performance of young Oliver Bearman. At just 20 years old, the Briton is impressing, with 17 of the team’s 18 points and a current seventh place in the drivers’ championship.
Between a solid seventh place in Australia and a brilliant fifth position on the grid in China, Bearman quickly established himself as a credible player at the top of the table. But this fairytale start was brutally interrupted during the Japanese Grand Prix, with a violent high-speed accident.
While the condition of the VF-26 caused concern, the team principal was reassuring: “Ollie is fine. Fortunately, he only has a bruised knee, nothing broken. I am very grateful that he came out of it without serious injury. He should be fully ready for Miami.”
As F1 prepares for the spectacle of the Miami Grand Prix, Haas is no longer just participating: taking advantage of the home air, the American team intends to defend a fourth place that, just a few weeks ago, was the stuff of fiction.
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