Haas boss reveals how F1’s smallest team keeps pace with rivals
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu is confident his team will continue to reach a high level despite lacking in areas compared to the rest of the grid.
Pretty much since its inception, Haas has been a team looking to punch above its weight but a strong start to 2026 has the American outfit looking upwards.
Haas chief details plan to compete in F1
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If you are not a Ferrari or a Mercedes, competing at the top end of Formula 1 is an incredibly expensive business, even with the cost cap in place.
Haas entered the sport in 2016 and is now an established member of the paddock but even still, by its own confession, its is lacking when compared to others.
Team principal Ayao Komatsu though said despite that disadvantage, the team knows it has to maximise what it does have.
“I think it’s overall togetherness of the team. I think, as everybody here knows, preparing for this brand-new regulation has been a huge challenge, and for us, being the smallest team, that challenge was, I’d say, even bigger,” he said.
“But we managed to hit every single milestone in terms of hitting the shakedown, Barcelona, Bahrain 1, 2, and then throughout.
“We may lack some of the off-track tools that some of the bigger teams may have. So the things we have to learn at the track are huge and we have to be doing it really, really quickly.
“We know what we are lacking, we know what we can do, so we’re doing obviously a parallel work. One, obviously making best of what we’ve got, but at the same time we are in the process of installing a simulator in Banbury as well and a few other tools.
“So, I think the development race is going to be very tough, but at least to start off with our car has a decent characteristic, it’s a really good base, so we know the direction is correct. It’s just a matter of can we find enough performance to keep up with the others.”
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One smart bit of business the team has done is to sign Ferrari youngster Oliver Bearman. The Briton outscored his experienced team-mate Esteban Ocon last year and is currently seventh in the 2026 standings.
“He takes steps every single time,” Komatsu said of the 20-year-old.
“You saw how much he improved throughout last year, right? As we said, his speed’s never been in doubt. Then you saw the consistency improvement towards the end of last year.
“Mexico, P4, was amazing under huge pressure. Then pre-season testing throughout, working with the engineers, mechanics, feedback, all the quality has improved. If you look at the first two races, he hardly made any mistakes.
“It’s just the way he can absorb the information, understand the bigger picture, he’s able to articulate it, digest, apply, all these qualities you need to be a top driver, he’s got it. The thing is that his attitude is very, very positive, so he brings the best out of people around him as well, engineers, mechanics, everyone. That’s a very important quality.
“Even when there’s some less than ideal situation happens, the way he deals with it, he actually doesn’t depress people, he actually motivates people to be able to solve the problem quicker. So that’s a natural attribute he’s got.
“We already enjoy working with him and, at the moment, I can’t see the ceiling, so that’s the exciting part.”
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