Haas experiences mixed fortunes as promising new era awaits

Haas closed out the 2025 F1 season with an eighth-place finish in the constructors’ championship, in a season that represented a step forward on track, but a step back in the standings.

On paper, the American team made progress, scoring 79 points compared to its 2024 total of 58. However, it slipped from seventh to eighth in the table, underlining just how unforgiving and congested the modern midfield has become — and how often Haas left results on the table through execution errors.

Heading into the campaign with an all-new driver pairing of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman, the season began with the former very much in control, as the more experienced of the pair.

In the opening phase, he brought the stability Haas had hoped for when signing him from Alpine, outqualifying Bearman consistently early on, and building a clear points advantage. By the summer break, the one-time grand prix winner had 27 points to his rookie team-mate's eight.

His racecraft, tyre management and ability to capitalise on opportunities allowed Haas to bank early points, including his strongest result of the year, fifth place in the Chinese Grand Prix.

However, consistency alone was not always enough. As the season wore on and the VF-25’s limitations became clearer, Ocon increasingly struggled to extract performance, something a late upgrade package did little to change.

He remained largely mistake-free, but his points flow dried up badly in the second half of the year, finishing with 38 points and 15th in the drivers’ standings.

Bearman’s rookie season followed the opposite trajectory. Early on, flashes of speed were undermined by inexperience.

He picked up a worrying number of FIA super licence penalty points, hovering dangerously close to a race ban at times, something that will also plague the early part of his 2026 campaign.

Silly mistakes played their part too, most notably his high-profile pit-lane crash at Silverstone under red-flag conditions, which epitomised the fine line he was walking.

Yet from the summer break onwards, Bearman emerged as one of the standout drivers on the grid, maturing and building on his natural pace.

He scored 33 of his 41 points in that period. His recovery drive from a pit-lane start to sixth at the Dutch Grand Prix was a season highlight, until he topped that with a superb drive to fourth place in Mexico City, which was promptly followed up with another sixth-place finish in São Paulo.

Those results demonstrated growing race intelligence to match his raw speed. By year’s end, Bearman had finished 13th in the championship, ahead of his more experienced team-mate.

A new era in 2026

Haas, though, must look beyond individual performances when reflecting on 2025, as the season repeatedly exposed weaknesses at a team level.

While the VF-25 was often capable of fighting towards the front of the midfield, that potential was not consistently converted into results.

Strategy calls occasionally impacted both drivers, while operational errors — most notably slow or untidy pit stops — cost valuable track position in races where margins were already razor-thin.

In such a competitive midfield, even small missteps proved costly, turning possible double-points finishes into frustrating near-misses.

Looking ahead to 2026, Haas stands on the brink of its biggest transformation yet. The Toyota Gazoo Racing title partnership marks a fundamental shift in the team’s trajectory, extending far beyond a rebrand to TGR Haas F1 Team.

Increased technical backing, improved infrastructure — including simulation and development tools — and a clearer long-term vision all promise to address structural limitations that have lingered for years.

With sweeping regulation changes on the horizon, greater resources behind the scenes, and continuity in its driver line-up, Haas enters the next era with cautious optimism.

The raw ingredients are in place; the challenge now is ensuring that operational sharpness finally matches the ambition and talent already within the team.