Sometimes, just a few days can make a difference. Haas knows this well, as they went from the “shock” of Melbourne—a disappointing and unexpected start to the season—to a double top 10 finish in the Chinese GP. This result not only restored confidence in the team but also, thanks to Ferrari’s disqualification, provided a valuable haul of points in the constructors’ standings.
It’s still too early to draw conclusions, but considering the issues Haas faced just a week ago in Australia—problems that are clearly not yet fully resolved—the fact that midfield teams are so close in performance and that this season’s updates will be particularly crucial means that every point could make a difference by the end of the year.
However, Team Principal Ayao Komatsu focused on another key aspect: the team’s reaction in just a few days after the shock of Australia. Despite the short turnaround between races, all engineers worked in the same direction, applying lessons learned in Melbourne about the car’s behavior and, most importantly, its limitations.
The Team Responded as One
“It was an incredible reaction from the whole team. Australia was a shock for us—we didn’t expect it based on testing in Bahrain—but what a response from the team,” said Ayao Komatsu after the Chinese GP, where Haas secured fifth and eighth place, even splitting race strategies between the two drivers to better understand race evolution.
“Everyone—in Italy, the UK, and the United States—worked together in just a few days. Honestly, I’m very happy with how we worked this week. Everyone fails at some point, right? But failure shouldn’t define you. What defines you is how you get back up from that failure, and I believe we demonstrated that as a team.”
Australia was a real shock for Haas, as problems emerged from the very first lap and were so severe that it seemed like the car might have suffered damaged components. These issues hadn’t been identified in Bahrain testing due to the different track characteristics, which feature more medium- and low-speed corners rather than high-speed ones.
At the time, minor signs of trouble in turns 6/7 and turn 12 weren’t given much weight, as they were thought to be setup-related. The engineers even managed to make adjustments over the three days of testing.
However, in Albert Park’s fast corners, those minor signals turned into major alarms, forcing the team to make setup compromises to improve performance in high-speed sections, effectively sacrificing slow sections. The core issue was that the VF-25 didn’t excel in either slow or fast corners, losing significant time—about four-tenths of a second just in the high-speed sequence of turns 9/10 compared to the best cars.
Positive Signs in China: Proof of Potential
Despite this, there were encouraging signs in China. This doesn’t mean all problems have been solved—far from it. The disappointing first part of the Chinese weekend for Esteban Ocon proved as much, especially since the Frenchman failed to make it out of SQ1.
However, by taking advantage of the open parc fermé after the sprint race, Haas changed “90% of the car,” immediately seeing positive results. It’s worth noting that Haas had already planned to run split setups between its drivers in Australia to gather data, but incidents involving Oliver Bearman and the wet race hindered the process.
In China, however, the VF-25 showed promising signs. Of course, Shanghai’s smooth asphalt helped, allowing the car to run lower, which is important given one of the issues Komatsu highlighted: ride height and bouncing. Still, data gathered in Melbourne helped the team identify a better operating window.
To generate rear downforce, Haas used one of the largest wings on the grid, costing them several km/h in straight-line speed. For example, on the two main straights, the VF-25 was 6-7 km/h slower than Williams and Racing Bulls, two direct midfield rivals. Additionally, due to its aero-mechanical setup, the car struggled in slow corners, especially in traction phases.
Komatsu explained that the VF-25’s issue is entirely aerodynamic, but when forced to make compromises to maintain a balanced setup, suspension adjustments are also needed. The good news is that the car performed well in medium- and high-speed sections, recovering some of the missing downforce and being quicker than its rivals.
In the race, Haas split strategies: Ocon started on mediums, while Oliver Bearman opted for hards. Ocon remained in the midfield pack throughout, making good use of his pit stop to overtake Hadjar’s Racing Bulls and executing a great move on Antonelli before the hairpin. From there, he maintained strong pace and benefited from Tsunoda’s two-stop strategy to finish seventh, later upgraded to fifth after Ferrari’s disqualification.
Why Komatsu Remains Cautious
Oliver Bearman also delivered a solid performance, climbing from 17th on the grid and managing a one-stop strategy despite running long on mediums. However, Komatsu warned that despite the strong result in China, the VF-25’s issues are far from solved.
“I don’t delude myself into thinking we’ve solved the problem—we haven’t. So, at certain tracks, we will still struggle. But when we can get the car working the way we want, helped by circuit characteristics, this is what we’re capable of,” said the Team Principal, hinting that Shanghai’s smooth asphalt played a role in their success.
As mentioned before the weekend, Haas will introduce the first adjustments in Japan, though finding a solution that works across all tracks will take time. “For Suzuka, we’re trying to make some changes to the car. We also believe it’s very sensitive to this issue, and we definitely didn’t do a good job over the winter—we missed something. And again, you might ask why we missed it, because it’s actually quite a complex problem. But it’s not something you can see in the wind tunnel.”
Leave a Reply