Exclusive: Ahead of Red Bull – is Haas the unsung hero of the early F1 races?

While the Chinese Grand Prix produced many unhappy faces in the paddock, there were plenty of smiles behind the Haas pitbox post-race.

McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were already in the media pen during the Grand Prix to explain the double DNS, while Max Verstappen was also done early after a poor weekend for Red Bull.

The biggest positive surprise? Haas – perhaps alongside race winner Kimi Antonelli. The American outfit followed up Oliver Bearman’s seventh place in Melbourne with an even bigger surprise in China: P5 at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Reliable package and impressive race pace – beating Red Bull ‘on merit’

According to team principal Ayao Komatsu, the positive start to the 2026 season first and foremost shows that having a reliable package can take you a long way at the start of a new regulation cycle.

“It’s incredible. I always said we have to focus on the basics and we have to maximise everything. In the early part of the season, reliability would be an issue, so we just have to be there,” Komatsu said in an exclusive interview with Autosport post-race.

Although reliability undeniably plays a key role, Haas deserves a lot more credit for its flying start than attributing it to reliability alone. The race pace was also impressive, combined with good tyre management on a circuit where graining of the left-front tyre is always the limiting factor.

“We cannot beat top four teams or top three teams now. Well, we beat Red Bull on merit today, so we were the fourth fastest team today, which is incredible. The unfortunate thing for McLaren was that they couldn’t take the race. We were there to take the benefit, so we just maximised everything. I’m just so happy.”

Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: James Sutton / Formula 1 / Formula Motorsport Ltd via Getty Images

When Komatsu says that Red Bull was beaten “on merit”, that became particularly evident when Verstappen spent much of the race around 2.5 seconds behind Bearman. Red Bull simply did not have more pace than what the British talent could deliver in the VF-26.

On the one hand, that says something about the struggles with the RB22 in Shanghai – where even major set-up changes made no difference at all, according to Verstappen – but it also says a lot about the strong package Haas currently has.

“When I looked at FP1, Red Bull didn’t look amazing. But based on the sprint, I wasn’t sure if we had the pace to really fight Red Bull or not. But the sprint is a sprint, right? It’s quite short. But whatever it was, we had a decent pace [on Sunday] and our drivers managed it so well.”

Strong execution crucial to flying start in 2026

According to Komatsu, the strong start to the season shows two things. First, that Haas has a solid package to work with, and second, that the team is operationally capable of extracting the maximum from it – and from a team perspective that latter point may be even more positive.

“Every day, we are improving. After qualifying here we were reasonably happy, but we knew we could have done better. We still knew that we had a decent starting position [and said], let’s maximise everything"

Ayao Komatsu

“We have a decent car, and the operation is really good. Honestly, when we started in Melbourne on Friday, it wasn’t good enough. But again, the reaction from that is something I’m really, really proud of everyone in the team,” Komatsu continued.

“Every day, we are improving. After qualifying here we were reasonably happy, but we knew we could have done better. We still knew that we had a decent starting position [and said], let’s maximise everything. We just have to be there and that’s exactly what we did, same as in Melbourne.”

While other teams are still fighting reliability issues at the start of the new cycle, Haas has been able to take advantage of that with a solid package, strong reliability and good execution. “Every single execution, we’ve done it very, very well, apart from the pitstop for Esteban.”

Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

That was perhaps the only blemish on Sunday. Ocon immediately took the blame after the contact with Franco Colapinto and received a ten-second time penalty for it, but according to Komatsu, Haas should not have put him in that position to begin with.

“We shouldn’t have put him in that place to start off, because we had a problem with the pitstop. We were really delayed. I can’t remember how many seconds it took, but that put him behind Colapinto again. Then Esteban was trying to force it and that didn’t work out.”

Without that setback for Ocon, Komatsu believes a double points finish would have been possible, something that ultimately went to Alpine thanks to Colapinto’s tenth place.

“Otherwise, Esteban would have raced to top ten for sure. I think at that point, the prediction was like minimum P9 or P8. Double points would have been icing on the cake, but the good thing is Esteban was happy with the car.

“He wasn’t happy with the car in Melbourne on Sunday and his race pace wasn’t good, but today he had a good race pace. Of course, the safety car didn’t work for Esteban. It worked for Oliver, but it didn’t work for Esteban. But that’s part of the reason why we split the strategy, right? Just to manage the risks.”

Confidence boost for “by far” the smallest team on the grid

So far, Haas has managed all those aspects well. As a result, the still-smallest team on the grid finds itself fourth in the constructors’ championship standings, ahead of powerhouse Red Bull.

Komatsu knows that holding on to that position is almost impossible once the bigger teams sort out their reliability issues, but the strong start to this year still gives Haas hope.

“It gives a huge amount of confidence. I think every day, we gain more confidence, and every day we understand a bit more about exploiting this regulation – just everything. We’re learning every day, so yeah, a huge amount of confidence going forward.

Ayao Komatsu, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

“We are still the smallest team, by far. And then to tackle these brand new regulations is a monumental task. To be fighting where we are fighting, I’m so proud of everyone in the team. I’m so happy that we can get this kind of result to basically say thanks to everyone in the team. It’s just amazing that all the hard work gets rewarded.”

The next step for Haas is to remain competitive throughout the development race as well.

The rate of development will be extremely high in the first season under these new regulations, and that is usually where the bigger teams can make the difference. In that regard, the cancellation of the Grands Prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia is unfortunate for Haas, as they could have been two more opportunities early in the year.

“We are still the smallest team, by far. And then to tackle these brand new regulations is a monumental task. To be fighting where we are fighting, I’m so proud of everyone in the team"

Ayao Komatsu

“If I had a choice, well, if there wasn’t the war, I’d rather keep going because our cars are competitive. We’ve got good momentum, but it is what it is.”

The next question is to what extent Haas can keep up in the development battle this season, but the race weekends in Australia and China already make the smallest team on the grid a major – and perhaps even the biggest – surprise at the start of this new F1 era.

Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

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