The challenge for Haas in 2026 is a familiar one – punch above their weight. As the team with fewest resources on the grid, Haas must be extremely efficient in how they concentrate their efforts.
Since Ayao Komatsu became team principal, Haas have finished 7th (2024) and 8th (2025) in the constructors standings.
These results are notable improvements on what Haas managed from 2019-2023, with a variety of operational deficiencies compromising their overall performance.
Looking ahead to the upcoming season, the US team aim to solidify themselves in the midfield and avoid being caught out by the new regulations. At present, they seem on course to meet both these targets.
Ayao Komatsu explains how Haas compare to other teams
Haas do not necessarily attract the same number of headlines as other teams, owing to their financial limitations and, therefore, relatively limited expectations.
In addition, Haas’ relative anonymity over the winter can be attributed to their stability – an increasingly rare characteristic for an F1 team.
One of the problems Ayao Komatsu’s squad have been forced to contend with is that, unlike most teams, they were still introducing upgrades in the final months of 2025. The team chose to extend last year’s development programme in a bid to improve their position in the constructors.
Of course, with wind tunnel and budget cap restrictions, this meant some resources were taken away from 2026.
As a team already operating with minimal infrastructure and a small workforce, this further complicated their task for this year. However, pre-season testing indicates that Haas are still in a solid position.
Speaking towards the end of the Bahrain tests, team principal Komatsu analysed Haas’ situation:
“I think to be accurate [about ranking teams] is very, very difficult. Even with stable regulations, tiny differences in the fuel load will skew those rankings.
“On top of that we have a brand new power unit manufacturers, energy deployment difference. So it’s very difficult to be precise, but I think at least we are in the mix in the midfield fight – against people like Alpine, Racing Bulls, Audi.
“So that’s really encouraging honestly, because we couldn’t give up last year [in development].
“We had to really fight until the end. So we were doing a parallel programme of ’25 development and ’26 development.
“So I kind of prepared myself to face a much tougher situation. But again, thanks to everyone’s effort, we have a good reliability, decent baseline, good foundation.”
A different midfield battle
One of the advantages that Haas enjoyed in the build-up to 2026 was continuity. In a season where new teams and manufacturers have entered the mix, things are business as usual at Haas.
This has allowed Haas to put together a sensible package and avoid major mishaps. In combination with a reliable Ferrari engine, Ayao Komatsu’s personnel are well-positioned heading into the first race.
Both race simulations and low-fuel runs indicate the VF-26 is firmly in the midfield, a satisfactory enough signal at this stage of the year.
With Cadillac significantly off the pace and Aston Martin battling a variety of potentially detrimental problems, a worst-case scenario for Haas would be for the VF-26 to be 9th-fastest team. However, it must be stressed this is a pessimistic scenario.
Pre-season testing suggests Haas could very feasibly be more competitive than Williams, VCARB and Audi. Even Alpine, who look in far stronger shape as a Mercedes customer team, could be within striking range.
In this sense, there is optimism at the American team.
Of course, this does not give any room for complacency – but instead serves as motivation to continue progressing and build upon what is widely regarded as a solid aerodynamic platform.