Haas’s Formula 1 crisis deepened at the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix, where Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman failed to score and extended the team’s point-less run to five consecutive races. After making a promising start to the season, the American team has now gone without a top-10 finish from Barcelona through to Budapest.
Formula 1, like several other world championships, has now entered its summer break. While the pause offers the drivers an opportunity to rest, it could prove decisive for teams as they analyse what went wrong during the first half of the season and prepare potential upgrade packages for the next Grand Prix at Zandvoort. Haas is among the teams facing the most urgent review after its recent difficulties continued at the Hungaroring.
Haas F1 points drought reaches five races
Despite its encouraging opening to the championship, Haas—currently seventh in the Constructors’ standings—has failed to score in five consecutive Grands Prix, covering the stretch from Barcelona to Budapest. Esteban Ocon could manage only 16th place during the latest race weekend, with the French driver acknowledging that Haas simply did not have the pace to compete with its rivals.
“We had a good start and were almost in the points, which was very positive, but we can’t keep up with the others. Unfortunately, we’re not fast enough to do that. The tyres also degraded quite heavily, so we need to work on improving the car’s performance,” Esteban Ocon said.
“We need to focus on the next upgrades and hope they make a difference—the team is working on them. There are many positives to take from this weekend. I’m quite happy that we managed to get the most out of the car and maintained the same consistency from Friday to Sunday. Now we just need to improve the performance.”
Oliver Bearman loses confidence as weekend deteriorates
Oliver Bearman crossed the line in 17th place, behind Esteban Ocon, but was handed a five-second penalty for failing to respect blue flags. The subject had already come under scrutiny following the contact between Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri, as well as Toto Wolff’s accusations against engineers from other teams, whom he blamed for not warning their drivers to make way for those fighting for the leading positions. The penalty ultimately dropped Oliver Bearman to 19th in the classification.
“It was a very long day, as we expected. The lack of pace we had in qualifying became worse in the race, with a lot of sliding and tyre degradation,” Oliver Bearman explained. “On top of that, I couldn’t overtake, so I got stuck, and I didn’t have the necessary pace anyway.”
“We need to understand why it went so well at Spa and so badly this weekend because the feeling was completely opposite, and I lost all confidence in the car. I didn’t complete a single lap this weekend while feeling comfortable, so we need to understand why and analyse the situation thoroughly.”
Haas’s scoreless result came on a weekend when Lando Norris won the Hungarian Grand Prix and Kimi Antonelli extended his championship lead with a podium. The summer break will therefore provide Haas with a crucial opportunity to understand its sudden loss of performance before Formula 1 resumes at Zandvoort.
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