Haas is the real surprise of the season start: VF-26 shines in corners and tyre management

Haas has emerged as the true surprise in the early stages of the 2026 Formula 1 season. The VF-26 currently boasts an excellent chassis that allows it to perform exceptionally in corners compared to other midfield teams, with an advantage that is particularly evident not just in qualifying, where it suffers from limited power, but also in tyre management during the race. This is a package that Oliver Bearman is fully maximizing.

Looking at the standings after the first two races, it is clear that the top positions are not dominated solely by the familiar “big four” teams, as might have been expected. This start to the season has brought a welcome surprise: Haas has established itself as the best midfield team, even managing to surpass Red Bull at times.

Of course, the Milton Keynes squad has faced significant setbacks due to reliability issues, which resulted in two retirements, slow starts, and a last-place grid position. However, this does not diminish the fact that the American team has demonstrated excellent form in these opening races, further highlighted by Oliver Bearman, who began the season exactly as he ended the last one: impressing.

His seventh place in Australia and fifth in China clearly demonstrate this: Haas has consistently led the midfield pack, and an analysis of the Shanghai race makes the picture even clearer. Before Max Verstappen retired, Bearman was actually ahead of the Red Bull driver, on merit.

It is true that Verstappen had a poor start, but even on the first lap Bearman was forced to give up several positions to avoid the other Red Bull, driven by Isack Hadjar, who spun. From there, both drivers began a long recovery, and beyond the influence of the Safety Car, Haas displayed excellent race pace.

Haas is more “ready” than its rivals

Interestingly, parallels can be drawn with Ferrari. Both Ferrari and Haas appear to have developed highly effective chassis, focusing on cornering speed as a key strength and a way to compensate for the power advantage of some rivals. Like Ferrari, Haas suffers from a relative lack of outright power, though the scale is different.

Mercedes, having developed these Power Units, clearly has superior knowledge compared to its customer teams, an advantage that allows it to extract even the smallest tenths, aided by the very effective chassis of the W17. Customer teams like Alpine and Williams are still searching for these tenths, making the midfield battle more “flexible.”

Haas sits precisely on this thin line. While Mercedes has a complete package that makes it extremely difficult for Ferrari to compete, Haas’s chassis advantage seems to allow it to outperform rival teams that have not yet mastered the Mercedes Power Unit and are not aerodynamic leaders either.

Credit is due to the technical staff led by Andrea De Zordo, as the qualities of the VF-26 are evident. From the first tests, the team put a car on track that was not only solid but also competitive, despite Haas being the smallest and least resourced team in Formula 1 — a detail that makes this achievement even more impressive.

In this context, “solid” is the word that best describes Haas’s form. From the Barcelona tests, notwithstanding a few minor early issues, the VF‑26 kept racking up laps, ultimately ranking as the second car with the most mileage across the three test sessions, only behind Mercedes.

Having a reliable and solid package has allowed the team to focus on understanding the car better, optimising energy usage, and fine-tuning tyre management. The true strength, more than in a single lap, emerges in race conditions, where the combination of all these elements currently makes a significant difference.

Race performance outweighs qualifying

In China, where managing graining was more critical than in Australia, Bearman managed his tyres excellently. It was precisely there, even while navigating traffic, that he produced the performance allowing him to secure a brilliant fifth place, rightfully ahead of Red Bull at that moment.

Without the incident between Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto, Haas could realistically have scored points with both cars, taking advantage of retirements from potentially faster rivals like McLaren, although the Frenchman still seems to lack full control of his car compared to his teammate. The current tally of 17 points is impressive, but in smoother races the haul could have been even greater, clearly demonstrating the competitiveness of the VF-26 and the quality of its chassis.

In many ways, this start to 2026 recalls what was seen in 2022. Even then, Haas, historically prone to strong early-season performances, was one of the midfield revelations in the first races of the ground-effect era, though it lagged in development, largely due to limited resources.

Over the past few years, however, the team’s growth trajectory has started to yield tangible results, both in terms of resources and personnel. This is also evident from the level of updates introduced, which allowed the team to remain competitive even in the closing stages of the season, as demonstrated by Oliver Bearman’s results in 2025 after a quiet start to the championship.

With the hope that Ferrari can unlock a few more horses from its Power Unit, Haas’s current challenge is to remain competitive with ongoing updates. Being at the start of a new technical cycle, the rate of development will be higher, and the team must keep pace with innovations. The American squad, however, begins from a rock-solid base, the result of excellent winter preparation.