With Oliver “Ollie” Bearman finishing P10 at the 2025 F1 Japanese GP, Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu expressed his admiration for the performance of the upgrades introduced to the VF-25. However, while speaking to the media after Sunday’s race in Japan, Komatsu admitted that the American team still had a long road ahead as they work toward overcoming the issues that plagued them in Melbourne, and discussed the team’s expectations for Bahrain.
Japan upgrades “the first step” of solving “big Melbourne issues”
When asked whether the upgrades brought for the F1 Japanese GP had showed what Haas needed to do to improve their competitiveness, Komatsu replied, “That is way too simple to say. I wish I can say that, I wish I can agree, but no, no.”
He explained that the team’s progress in Japan marked the first step toward addressing the major issues identified in Melbourne.
“Because, again, this was the first step of solving that big Melbourne issue. And then this is the area where, so there’s a few areas we need to look at, but this particular one we’ve done, like I said, we shortcut it, but we felt that was a relatively safe one to do.”
Haas hoping for “a fundamental solution” by Race 7
The Haas boss indicated that more “closed-loop development with CFD and wind tunnel” would be necessary to develop and introduce more fundamental solutions to address the identified issues. While lacking a set timeline, Komatsu hopes that Hass can introduce these solutions by the Miami GP in early May.
“But the other one, the other areas, we really need a more closed-loop development with CFD and wind tunnel. So we’re doing that right at this minute, and then when we can find a fundamental solution to bring it to the track, it’s still TBC. We’re trying to get it to around race seven time, but that’s not decided yet, that’s not defined yet.”
Whether Haas will achieve this goal on time remains uncertain, but Komatsu finds encouragement in the team’s progress in Japan.
“So it’s a fast step, but it is an encouraging fast step because we accepted the risk of shortcutting the process, but, again, it just proved that, because it worked, it proves that our engineers’ understanding of which areas to look at, which direction to go, that was correct. So that’s really encouraging.”
DRS to be a challenge for Haas in Bahrain
While encouraged by the VF-25’s performance in Japan, Komatsu expects the team to struggle in the upcoming Bahrain GP. He identified that the team’s DRS performance was not great, and explained that this could be a challenge at a circuit like Bahrain where DRS was crucial for performance. However, Komatsu believes that the team is more aware of what to expect in Bahrain, having tested the car at the Sakhir International Circuit during pre-season.
“I mean, Bahrain, in terms of that particular issue, we know it’s okay because we did a pre-season test in Bahrain, but the other side of Bahrain in terms of competitiveness is the DRS section.”
“You know, every single straight is DRS, and then we can see on our data our DRS performance is not great. So places like Suzuka, it’s not too bad, but in Bahrain, with DRS, I think in terms of our performance, we don’t know, we’ll see.”
Komatsu concluded, “So in every race, we’ll face different issues, but Bahrain will be a different challenge. But in terms of oscillation, we shouldn’t have an issue.”
Melbourne showed serious flaws with VF-25
Komatsu reflected on the team’s progress and development since the start of the season. He explained that while pre-season testing in Bahrain had highlighted some of the VF-25’s flaws, the team had not been been truely aware of how fundamental those issues were until the Australian GP.
“We know that in Bahrain, we could perform in that way, like pre-season testing, so we knew that not everywhere is going to be like Melbourne, but Melbourne exposed our fundamental issue of the car, so it’s just no option, we’ve got to solve it. We’ve got to accept the problem, we’ve got to really just tackle it head-on, get our heads down and solve it.”
While the Haas Team Principal admitted that their poor performance in Melbourne had drastically affected the team’s overall mood, he stated that they had eventually realised that while there were serious issues to solve, their performance at other races would vary.
“So, yes, mood was really terrible, because you are last, but not by tenths, by, like, six-tenths, not even close to second slowest car. So it was terrible, but it’s not like we thought it’s going to be like this every race, but it’s just like, wow, we’ve got some serious issues to solve.”
Shanghai and Suzuka showed Haas’ potential
While Melbourne was a sharp reminder of the VF-25’s deficiencies, Komatsu believes that the races in Shanghai and Suzuka showed the team’s potential under the right circumstances. He explained that while the Haas had gone into the Chinese GP weekend expecting the worst, they had been pleasantly to discover that the VF-25 could perform well under the right circumstances.
“But then Shanghai, we started the car with kind of like worst-case scenario, purely based on Melbourne. Forget about Bahrain, but then again quickly realised, okay, with Shanghai’s track surface smoothness, we can put the car in the window we want to put it in, and then that’s the way we could perform.”
Though the Japanese GP in Suzuka was far less straight-forward for the American team, Komatsu believes that they were able to identify their issues and work towards the improvements that had allowed Bearman to finish P10.
“So again, like, Suzuka here, by the end of FP2, we felt we’ve done that, but then we weren’t performing, we weren’t competing, then that sort of like really told us, right, we’re doing something else wrong, which we worked on the especially in Quali, so then we managed to get one point, so, yeah.”
Haas “won’t be shortcutting” development of VF-25
Although the promising races in China and Japan might tempt some to rush the car’s development, Komatsu made it clear that Haas will not take this approach with the VF-25. He explained that the while the promise shown by the upgrade introduced at the 2025 F1 Japanese GP had taken some pressure off, the team would not be able to solve larger issues if the took shortcuts to their development.
“It’s not hard,” Komatsu said when asked how Haas avoided rushing the development of the VF-25.
“Because we’re pretty clear, because obviously depending on the size of the issue, right, and then the fact that this upgrade you brought here actually did what it’s supposed to do, actually takes the pressure off, if you like.”
“If this made no difference, and then we had to set up the car in a very non-performing window, then that might be more added pressure. We haven’t solved anything at all, but still, we knew that other areas, if we don’t go through the diligent iterative process, we can get lost completely.”
“So, it was good that this worked, but no, no, no, for the future development, we won’t be short-cutting,” he insisted.
“Being the smallest team” poses unique challenges for Haas’ approach to the F1 season
While dedicated to a “diligent, iterative process” of development, Komatsu acknowledged that the small size of the Haas team posed some unique challenges, as the team lacked the manpower to focus on development while balance the increasingly extensive race calender.
“No, it’s still quite tough,” Komatsu replied when asked if the team had become more steamlined.
“You know, us being the smallest team, we don’t have many people to rotate, so no, it’s still pretty tough. So again, you know, to get the development and the landing to races, that’s a huge effort, you know, so I just got to be really careful in the sense of how much to push people. So, yeah, it’s difficult.”
Co-Author: Vyas Ponnuri
