Haas admits it is F1's slowest team but rules out abandoning VF-26 development

Haas has conceded it is currently the slowest team in Formula 1 after being overtaken by its midfield rivals during the 2026 season, but team principal Ayao Komatsu has ruled out switching development focus to the 2027 car, insisting meaningful VF-26 updates are on the way.

The American outfit began the year in promising form, scoring points in each of the first three races, including a fifth-place finish for Oliver Bearman at the Chinese Grand Prix. But as the season progressed, teams such as Alpine and Racing Bulls accelerated their upgrade programmes and left Haas behind. The team has not scored a point since Esteban Ocon finished ninth at the Monaco Grand Prix in June.

Bearman was candid about the team’s position ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. “Quite frankly, we’ve been overtaken right now. We are the 10th-best team. It really hurts, myself and all the others. We were working really hard to make that not be the case, but that’s the reality of where we are right now,” the Briton said.

He drew a contrast with 2025, when Haas maintained competitive pace throughout the year. “2026 is more of what we’ve seen from Haas in the past — starting incredibly strong with a really quick car as a base, but not being able to improve like the others have.”

Komatsu acknowledged that a Montreal upgrade package introduced earlier in the season had produced mixed results, improving outright pace in some areas while making the car harder to drive in others. He framed the remainder of the season as an opportunity to demonstrate the team’s problem-solving ability rather than a reason to cut losses.

“The last two years, I think we proved to ourselves and the outside world that we can develop the car. We’ve got the people, the technical department is functioning,” Komatsu said. “For us to have any remote chance of keeping up with the others, because of the size of our team, everything has to be perfect. But that’s just not realistic in anyone’s life.”

He added that the objective for the rest of 2026 remains unchanged from the previous two seasons: identify the key issues, solve them, and deliver the fixes to the car. A wholesale redirect of resources toward the 2027 regulations, which represent a significant technical reset for the sport, is not something Komatsu is prepared to entertain at this stage.