Tag Archives: Haas

November 5, 2025 · 3:10 pm

How a charging Haas F1 team has made the right calls on and off the track

Haas has moved up from P9 to P8 and has bigger ambitions over the last four races

For the Haas Formula 1 team the Mexican GP saw a dream result, with Ollie Bearman’s fourth place and ninth for Esteban Ocon allowing it to jump Sauber for eighth in the World Championship.

The focus is now firmly ahead, with Aston Martin and Racing Bulls both within a 10 point range.

Mexico was just reward for a well-executed weekend, with Bearman obviously doing a brilliant job in the cockpit and the team making a smart strategy call that ultimately paid off.

It also came in the wake of the decision to introduce an upgrade package at the US GP that only has a life of six race weekends in order to provide a late season boost in the constructors’ battle. That already paid off on its debut in Austin with a ninth place for Bearman, and Mexico brought more vindication.

“We’re definitely happy,” team boss Ayao Komatsu told this writer. “Without the upgrade, I don’t think we could have had the Austin result, I don’t think we could have had this result.

“So it’s already proven that regardless of championship position, because like I keep saying, a result is a result, you cannot 100% control that. Let’s face it, we moved up one position, but they [Sauber] are only two points behind. It’s nothing, absolutely nothing.

“All I’m trying to say is we’ve just got to try the get the best out of the car and drive and execute every single race weekend. If we do that, I’m sure we can move up. But there’s just no point counting the points.”

The team now has its sights set on getting ahead of both Aston Martin and Racing Bulls over the course of these last four race weekends.

“Even before I said P6 is possible,” said Komatsu. “But again, it’s just no point thinking like that. A 22 points gap with six races remaining – of course, it was possible, but there’s no point thinking, how are we going to get 23 points? It may not happen. But that’s out of our control, right?

“That we suddenly got 14 points, great, it’s now 10 points to P6. But again, it’s not about how are we going to get 10 points? It’s more about how are we going to start Brazil FP1? Make sure we get the sprint quali right.

“If we do everything right, we can score points in the sprint. And then that puts us another step ahead for main quali and race. So I think it’s very important for us to focus what’s in front of us, and that mindset, honestly, is the one let us make the right decision for the second pit stop [in Mexico].

“Imagine if we were too hung up on the podium?. I’m sure we would have lost the podium with Max coming through. I’m not sure if we could have hung on to P4 with Piastri coming through with the new tyre. So yeah, I think the mindset is very important.”

That strategy call was a difficult one to make, but it was the right one, and it showed signs of clear thought and a good process.

Bearman was running in an unexpected P3, and he had the option to stay out, run to the flag, and try to hold on.

However when cars behind pitted they not only gave themselves fresh tyres with which to fight, but also helped Max Verstappen to have a clearer run at the Haas. The team decided that a solid shot at P4 was better than risking all trying to hold on to third and potentially tumbling down the order in the closing laps. The collective head ruled the heart.

“At that point we were going for the one stop,” Komatsu explained. “So if nobody pitted, we’d have just stayed out and done the one-stop, because I think Max would have got stuck in the DRS train. He wouldn’t have been able to overtake.

“But the minute those two cars behind made a pit stop, that means Max had George [Russell] to go through, then us to go through, pick us off one by one. He would have done that. Then we already made 70% decision to box after those two cars pitted, but as soon as we heard that George is boxing as well, there was no doubt.”

Giving up P3 was the logical move: “We’d only lose position to Max, and he was going to overtake us anyway. So that wasn’t about covering for undercut, it was just about those guys are already converted, and Max was going to come through, so we had nothing to lose.

“Max has got tyre delta. That’s probably why those two guys decided we’re not going to be able to defend. So as soon as we lost that buffer of cars, it’s not going to happen. And you saw how close Max finished with Leclerc, then you saw how much behind we were compared to Leclerc.

“So imagine Max had completely taken us easily, and then how far we’re going to drop back against those cars who made a second stop? So for me, at that point, it’s what’s in front of us? What’s our objective? We’ve got to make sure we get P4.”

Bearman had put his car in a podium position with an early charge that saw him fighting with drivers in the top teams.

“That was good racing, right?,” said Komatsu. “That was amazing, out of Turn 6. That was great racing. And then first stint we had Max behind. Second stint, we had a Mercedes behind. Third stint we had a Mercedes and McLaren behind. I mean, what a privilege to be racing against those top guys.”

Bearman has had something of a messy first full season, getting into scrapes and earning a few penalties, and a good result was just what he needed.

“We’ve been working with Ollie, of course, continuously,” Komatsu noted. “And like I said so many times, his potential is no question. It’s about harnessing that, managing to build up the weekend, nurturing that talent.

“Singapore was very good. Austin was again, very good, but a couple of things, in the sprint, and then the race, incidents. In Mexico missing FP1, jumping in for FP2, bang. And then such a tight qualifying.”

“And then essentially the entire race he was fighting against three top teams, Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren – teams we shouldn’t be fighting. So that is amazing. Track position, free air so much more important. It’s important everywhere. But here with all the temperature restrictions, it’s so important.”

There are fine margins in the midfield these days, and just missing out on Q3 consigned Ocon to a much more difficult race, hampered by traffic. The Frenchman also didn’t feel well during the weekend.

“Austin, the high speed stability, he still struggled, whereas Ollie got the most out of it,” said Komatsu. “This circuit he got everything out of it. He’s not being well this weekend, all the way through, he had a massive headache.

“You look at Esteban’s quali performance. He lost Q3 by three hundredths. He was five-hundredths behind Ollie. They’re basically the same pace all the way through this weekend.

“And then during the race, what obviously made Esteban’s race more difficult was he was stuck behind Tsunoda. During the first stint, he was very happy with the car. He was clearly quicker than Tsunoda. He had a very similar pace to Piastri, so he had the same pace as Ollie. What kills you is the traffic.”

So what then of the last four races – can Bearman and Ocon find enough points to move the team to P7 or P6?

“Honestly, I’ll be least looking forward to Vegas, because it’s a long straight again,” said Komatsu. “In low downforce we are not as competitive, but most of the circuits, like Brazil, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, should be OK. Honestly, because margins are so small, there’s no point looking too far ahead.”

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October 31, 2025 · 11:42 am

How Ocon contributed to a “big day” for Haas with points in Mexico

Bearman stole the headlines but Ocon scored useful points in his wake

He may have been overshadowed by the superb fourth place in Mexico for Ollie Bearman, but Esteban Ocon gave his Haas team a further boost with P9, contributing to a two-point advantage over rivals Sauber.

The Frenchman was quicker than Bearman in FP2 and FP3 – admittedly the rookie had lost track time by missing FP1 – and was then an encouraging P5 in Q1, providing further proof that the Austin upgrade package had paid off.

Alas in Q2 he was wrongfooted by the presence of Yuki Tsunoda and Charles Leclerc, and ended up in a frustrated 12th on the grid.

Hit by Fernando Alonso on the first lap, he was then held up by Tsunoda, complaining of a “dangerous defence” by the Red Bull driver.

Along the way Ocon helped Bearman by briefly keeping Oscar Piastri behind, before ultimately moving up three spots from where he started.

“As a whole it’s fantastic for the team, and really shows that we had a great car pace this weekend,” he said when I asked about his race.

“I really tried to maximise the pace we had. We got unlucky with quite a lot of things. The start, I got touched, I got stuck behind Yuki who was defending like I’ve never seen!

“I defended on Oscar, trying to protect Ollie. I made him lose quite a few seconds with that fight, between four to six, so that was quite good.

“Overall, the car was working super well. I’m happy with our performance this weekend and our learning. Obviously, it didn’t smile to us, the luck, every session. But I think we can be pleased with what we did.”

The Tsunoda defence came a race after the Japanese driver upset Bearman in Austin.

“He moved under braking, that was the point,” said Ocon. “And unfortunately, he was the one also giving me a shit quali, which was not his fault, to be fair. So yeah, I always seem to catch him in the wrong place, the wrong time.

“And basically, that damaged our race, because we must have lost eight or nine seconds stuck behind him in that first stint, and I couldn’t get by. And once we cleared him, then we could stretch our legs. And it was much better. But it was too late.”

There may have been some personal frustration at his unrepresentative grid position, but Ocon was pleased with the team’s overall result.

He’s hoping that fortune goes his way in Brazil, where he made the podium last year with Alpine.

“It’s a big day, obviously,” he said. “We didn’t get the full rewards with the updates that we should have had. I think the pace for us this weekend was very good. We didn’t show everything that there was, so there was some left on the table.

“But it definitely feels good to have that behind us. And I hope it’s not only track related. We are going to see at Interlagos how it is. It’s a track that I look forward to. Good memories from last year. Obviously, I want some rain. That would be nice!”

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October 5, 2025 · 6:51 am

Bearman makes up for Baku frustration with Singapore Q3 charge

The Haas driver will start from an encouraging P9 on the Singapore grid

Qualifying in Singapore saw an excellent effort from Oliver Bearman as the Haas Formula 1 team driver secured P9, providing some redemption after disappointment in Azerbaijan.

In Baku the team was very quick throughout practice. Indeed the rookie was an impressive fifth on Friday and eighth in FP3, benefiting from having done the race the previous year.

However things fell apart in qualifying and after tapping the wall in Q1 and again in Q2 he was left stranded in 15th on the grid.

Singapore was always going to be a tricky one as it was a track Bearman didn’t know. He was a solid 12th on Friday, but then things really came together in qualifying as he made Q3 for only the third time this year, having been 10th at Suzuka and eighth at Silverstone until a red flag penalty sent him down the grid.

This time at least he gets to start from his rightful place, and he’s on the clean side.

“Definitely happy,” he said when I asked him about his session. “Yesterday I was not the fastest, but I think I was building up well to this track, which is certainly a tough one. And it’s the first time that I’ve had to learn a street track for a while, because you do all the other ones in F2, but this one you don’t.

“Having slept on it, coming back, I felt like I was a bit more on it. And straight away from the first lap of P3 some corners that I couldn’t quite figure out yesterday were clicking, which is normally the case for myself.

“And then quali just went well. We had a clean session, every lap was improving, the car felt good. When the car feels like that underneath you it’s easy to get lap time out of it, because it’s very predictable.

“It’s a good feeling, considering where we started, at least with my confidence level and stuff, I think we did a good job.”

Bearman certainly deserves a bit of good fortune after facing a few disappointments with grid penalties and the like this year.

“It’s been a long time coming as well,” he said. “In Baku I think we were on for a result very similar to this one, until I got caught out by the wind. So it’s been a few races now that I think we’ve been really up there.

“In Monza, I was a hair away from Q3 as well. So qualifying has been going pretty well recently. I’m glad that we finally have a good result to really show for it, and hopefully we can translate that into a good race.”

He added: “Of course, without the wind, everything is much more stable and consistent. So that makes life much, much easier.

“Every corner feels the same every lap, rather than Baku, which was a question mark. But that was a thing in my head, and probably part of the reason I was a bit slow yesterday, just building up step-by-step.”

He’s already in the top 10 at a race which usually sees some attrition, and now he has to make sure he’s not part of that.

“We’re starting P9, so we don’t have to have such a crazy race,” he said. “Of course, looking forward, but very aware that people can undercut.

“And strategy is quite important here, you can’t really overtake on track, so I think it’s just about covering all of the bases, and hopefully we can have a good one tomorrow.”

If Bearman was happy after qualifying his Haas team mate Esteban Ocon definitely wasn’t. Having been P7 and declared Friday in Singapore his best opening day of the season the Frenchman wasn’t happy with changes for FP3.

He improved the car but a seatbelt issue and then the yellow flag for Pierre Gasly’s stricken car cost him in Q1, and left him a frustrated 19th.

“FP3 was slightly worse than Friday for sure, but we managed to get back to a sensible place at the end of FP3,” he said when I asked about his trouble. “And we were pretty decent.

“In qualifying two issues in two runs, the biggest one being the yellow flag. I tried not to lose too much time, which already is not the thing that you should do on the yellow flag, but I tried to.

“It was a slow corner, so as soon as you release the throttle a little bit, you lose a lot of time, because it’s a lot of time spent there. And I lost three-tenths. The three-tenths was enough to go to Q2 already, and we could have built from there with two more sets of tyres.

“In the first run, an issue that came out of nowhere, that didn’t happen the whole year, the belt, I don’t know, it got clipped somewhere, and I basically couldn’t brake properly on the whole first lap.”

He added: “It was fine on the out lap, and basically, I don’t know what happened on the crotch belt, but on the first braking, when I braked, it completely moved. And I got it exactly in the wrong place… As you can imagine, I couldn’t brake properly.”

After his Azerbaijan weekend fell apart the last thing Ocon needed was more disappointment in Singapore.

“I think Baku was more something that was related to the car in terms of braking, where we struggled, quite a lot of front locking and stuff. I think here was slightly better.

“Even though it wasn’t perfect. I managed to get away with it. We should have been through that’s it, if there was no yellow flag. There’s no rocket science.”

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June 8, 2025 · 11:02 am

Haas still riding F1’s midfield rollercoaster

The team had a great race in Monaco but otherwise it’s been a difficult recent run for Haas

Form and luck swings back and forth among F1’s closely-matched midfield teams, as we saw with Sauber’s remarkable fifth place in Spain.

Just the previous weekend Esteban Ocon had secured a solid seventh for Haas in Monaco, but either side of that it’s been a difficult run for the US-owned outfit.

After a double score in Bahrain the team didn’t better a 12th place in the three races prior to Monaco, and then in Barcelona Ocon and Oliver Bearman finished 16th and 17th.

Ocon wasn’t helped in Spain by being one of the few drivers not to pit for fresh tyres under the late safety car, while Bearman had a 10-second penalty as a result of his fraught fight with Liam Lawson.

Bearman hasn’t had a lot of luck lately, and his progress was hampered by missing his final Q1 lap when the clock ran down in Imola, and by a 10-place grid penalty for a red flag offence in Monaco. In Spain he at least made Q2, but in the end he started 15th as a late set-up change didn’t really pay off.

Recent upgrades to at least seem to have improved the VF-25, which had had a weakness in faster corners.

“We will look at these three weeks, take the positives and draw some conclusion out of these three,” said Ocon when I asked him about his Barcelona race.

“I think there’s a clear pattern, which is quite positive for some track, a bit more difficult on others. But we’ll take the week to analyse and come back stronger in Canada.”

He added: “I think the good points are the strengths we have in some of the tracks which are a bit more slow-speed corners and we struggle a bit little bit more on this kind of track, with longer corners, fast, although we did improve, I think we still lack a little bit.

“Our race pace was definitely better than our quali pace, which is a bit sad, because I think there was a bit more to play today for both of us. Big thanks to the team for keeping on pushing for these three weeks.

“And now we are going to be able to breathe a little bit, analyse what went on, and come back stronger in a race where hopefully we should perform well.”

Ocon remains hopeful that the team can make a step in Canada.

“I think we should be good in in corners in Montreal, we need to see about straight line speed obviously, this is what we need to be sure of. Plenty of work and understanding to go for us.

“But I’m positive that we should be able to come back in a decent level of performance.”

Meanwhile team principal Ayao Komatsu acknowledges that there’s work to be done in all areas.

“I feel like we really need to hit the ground running better, to give a consistent platform for the drivers to run every single run,” he said in Spain. “I don’t like to separate, but for sure we are still learning how to get the best out of Esteban.

“And when he’s in a good spot, in terms of car set-up, mentally and everything, you’ve seen what he can deliver. Shanghai was a very, very good race. Bahrain was amazing. And Monaco, what he delivered in qualifying, was excellent. So we know we can do it.”

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May 29, 2025 · 8:20 am

Why frustrated Bearman is ready to unleash Haas pace

Bearman can’t catch a break at the moment [Pic: @tinnekephotography]

Oliver Bearman could be forgiven for thinking that the world is against him right now after two frustrating qualifying sessions saw him stranded at the back of the grid.

And yet there is clearly some potential in the Haas package that he can take advantage of given a clean weekend in Spain.

At Imola he missed getting his final lap in after a red flag in Q1, a decision that was challenged by his team. That left him as the last car on the grid in P19, with Yuki Tsunoda switching to a pitlane start. From there he had a frustrating race to P17.

In Monaco he was again caught out by a red flag, this time in practice, after he opted to pass a slow Carlos Sainz rather than stand on the brakes and stay behind the Williams.

He thought he was doing the right thing, but the stewards took a dim view, and gave him a 10-place grid penalty.

Inevitably from P20 it was going to be a long slog, and yet despite a slow pit stop he managed to convert it to P12 at the finish – a decent performance given that only two cars retired.

However, Esteban Ocon’s solid run to seventh place showed what might have been.

“Of course, feeling a little bit hard done by,” he said when I asked him about the penalty after the session. “But I don’t want to get too much into the details. Different things, but same outcome, unfortunately.

“I feel like it was a harsh penalty, honestly, for everything that happened. I felt like there were some mitigating circumstances, namely the huge delta speed and the lack of time I had to react. But c’est la vie.”

Expanding on the transgression he added: “I don’t know what the standard penalty is. It’s quite a rare thing, but I feel like we’re in a street track, against the walls, and in a split second, I have to decide whether to slow down 120kph in 60 metres, or overtake the guy at a safe speed.

“Of course, I didn’t want to lock up and hit him. That would have been an absolute disaster, and I think I would have been in a lot more trouble than what I was now. But I think given the circumstances, I think I could have been dealt with a bit more kindly.”

Adding to the frustration was the fact that he couldn’t get any solace from showing what he could do in qualifying, because of the risk of knocking Ocon out.

In the end he had to settle for P17 in Q1 after abandoning his final lap.

“The only thing was I didn’t want to be in Q2 at the expense of the wrong person,” he noted. “If it happened that it played out and I knocked my teammate out of Q2 that would have been a disaster. So I’m glad we didn’t do that.

“I had to slow down at the end of the lap, but I understand. I’m starting 20th anyway, regardless of what happens, and I wouldn’t want to get in the way of anyone. The goal was maybe to be in Q2, and knock out a competitor. But of course, I don’t want to knock out an ally.”

Bearman was one of several drivers to go for the first lap tyre change strategy, but despite losing time with a wheel issue he ultimately made more progress up the order than others who took that route.

“We had a decent race,” he said. “The best we could have done today was this, really. We were lucky not to be affected by a slow stop.

“I think unless we had five or six other cars stopping on lap one, we were going to take the lap one stop. The problem is that regardless of what you do, the pack when it’s driving kind of six seconds slower, there’s nothing you can really do about it.”

The result may have gone largely unnoticed, but Monaco was a good boost for Bearman.

“In terms of personal performance, it was a really good weekend,” he noted. “I performed at a very high level, in my opinion, like I did in Imola. So I’m proud of myself, and I think the team have also done an excellent job this weekend.

“It’s been a tough one with this 10-place penalty, which unfortunately hindered our weekend, and meant that today the maximum we could have done was P12.

“But I’m really excited to get to Barcelona, and hopefully we can have a representative weekend of what we’ve been showing, or maybe hiding in a way, these past two weekends.”

It’s clear that upgrades introduced in Imola have been a boost, and Barcelona will be a chance for Bearman to reap the benefit.

“I’m almost certain points were there this weekend,” he said. “If I look at my performance, there was clearly pace in the car, no doubt about that.

“And of course, very happy to see Esteban scoring points on a weekend was more difficult on my side of the garage. But Esteban showed that there’s pace in the car, and there’s a lot of pace in the car.

“I think even if you look at the pace in free air in Imola, it looks quite good. The car has been feeling great.

“I think we just need to get the clear air, which is a bit more difficult. I just want to have a normal weekend now, without interruptions, without qualifying out of position, because that has been the case in the past two weekends.

“And I’ve been going off the back row for the past few race weekends. And nothing’s easy from back there…”

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April 9, 2025 · 6:37 am

Bearman makes his point as revised floor boosts Haas

Bearman was in the top 10 for the second time in two races

Oliver Bearman continues to impress at the Haas Formula 1 team, and the young Brit caught the eye in Suzuka by comprehensively outperforming team mate Esteban Ocon.

To be fair it was a slightly tougher weekend for the Frenchman. From the start of the weekend Bearman had the team’s new floor, fast tracked to the car after it proved difficult in Australia.

Ocon in contrast got it for Saturday, and thus only had FP3 in which to optimise the car and get fully comfortable prior to qualifying.

While Bearman qualified 10th and finished in the same position as he logged a useful point, Ocon had to settle for starting 18th, and he wasn’t able to make progress from there.

Like other drivers who have switched teams Ocon is still finding his feet, and it’s also worth recalling that he had the better weekend in China, outpacing Bearman and taking eighth on the road and sixth in the final results.

Nevertheless Suzuka was a statement of intent from Bearman, who has quickly overcome the disappointment of a huge practice crash in Australia.

Japan was a straightforward race for him.

“Pretty boring, I was pretty lonely out there, a bit sleepy,” he said when I asked him about his afternoon. “It was a fun race. With the temperatures dropping like they did today, and the track kind of resetting overnight with the rain, the grip was incredibly high, and the level of pushing was also incredibly high.

“The tyres were super robust today, and it was basically just a flat-out race, and I didn’t quite have enough pace to attack, and I wasn’t slow enough to be attacked either. So it was a bit lonely.”

Bearman confirmed that the revised floor worked well, and he also made an intriguing observation that suggests he might less affected than Ocon by the car’s quirks.

“For me, it seems positive,” he said. “So I’m happy with that. The team has done a great job bringing it so quickly after the upset of Australia. So I think we did a great reaction, and for it to work as expected is a good feeling. Let’s see how it how it performs on the rest of the tracks that we have in this triple header.

“We just had a little bit less bouncing in those high-speed corners, which, anyway, I feel like I’m not super sensitive to, so with or without the floor, I don’t complain that much about bouncing. I’m used to F2 which doesn’t have suspension, essentially. So anything’s an upgrade!

“And the floor has definitely improved the bouncing, and it doesn’t really change the feeling for us. But it allows us to run the car a bit more aggressively, and get a bit more performance out of it, which is good. And it seems like it’s worked this weekend.”

Ocon meanwhile downplayed the suggestion that only having Saturday to get used to the new floor was the reason why he struggled.

“I think it’s a bit more complicated than that,” said the Frenchman. “I think it’s good overall, that the teams managed to bring this update this quickly and react this this quickly. It worked on one car, which is very good.

“We need to pick that up, understand the data from Ollie’s side, and it’s good that he’s managed to pick up a point. And yeah, we are very happy on that side. Now it’s just a matter of turning it into our car as well. And no doubt that this will come too.”

Team boss Ayao Komatsu insisted that as of Saturday the two cars were identical.

“The data is pretty clear,” he said. “It’s working. So we haven’t understood why Esteban couldn’t perform. Both cars as far as we can see, are performing very, very close to each other within the resolution of what we can measure? Not to say there might be something that we cannot measure, but so far, we haven’t found anything.”

Bearman hadn’t sampled any of the first three tracks in an F1 car, although he knew Melbourne from F2, and Suzuka from a Super Formula test.

He now goes to two venues that he has sampled in faster machinery, including Jeddah, where he actually raced last year.

“Every weekend I’ve done so far has had a mistake somewhere,” said the teenager. “Maybe not China, but this one completing the full weekend without any bad points, good qualifying, good race, I’m happy with this one, and it’s a good baseline to improve from.

“I’m definitely excited to go to tracks that I know. At the end, it doesn’t change much by the time you get to qualifying, because even here, having three free practices is enough to learn the track for most.

“So it really all comes down to how comfortable I am in the car. This weekend, I felt really confident to push and lean on it. And if I have that feeling, I hope we can be that competitive in the future races too.”

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February 4, 2025 · 9:40 am

Haas veteran Crolla joins Cadillac F1 team

Peter Crolla is on his way from Haas to the new Cadillac team

Former Haas team manager Peter Crolla is to join the new Cadillac Formula 1 operation in a similar role.

Hitherto the Silverstone-based operation has been focussed on building up its design and engineering departments.

However with formal confirmation of the acceptance of its 2026 entry expected soon and its first race now a little over 13 months away the organisation formerly known as Andretti is starting to build up its race team operation.

Crolla, who will officially join the team on April 1, was a key player at Haas from its own early days. He thus brings useful experience of helping to put together a start-up operation.

He started in May 2015 during the build-up to the first season in 2016, initially as race team coordinator, working alongside the then team manager and sporting director Dave O’Neill.

After O’Neill left Crolla was named Haas team manager in late 2017, before switching to the trackside operations manager title in early 2021. He became team manager once again in July 2022, before officially leaving last month.

Prior to joining Haas Crolla had a stint at McLaren, having previously worked outside F1 with spells at Team Dynamics in the BTCC, and Fortec in F3.

Haas meanwhile recently unveiled a revamped structure that no longer includes the team manager title.

Crolla’s previous responsibilities will be split between Mark Lowe in the newly-created role of sporting director, and trackside operations manager Neil Hanley.

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January 27, 2025 · 9:31 am

Enstone veteran Genon joins Haas to run Toyota project

Genon joins Haas after 12 years at Enstone

Former Renault and Alpine engineer Pierre Genon has joined the Haas Formula 1 team as its Toyota project manager.

The Belgian will in effect be the liaison between the UK-based team and the Toyota Gazoo Racing operation in Cologne following the announcement of their technical collaboration late last year.

Genon went to Enstone in 2012 as the head of vehicle performance group at what was then the Lotus team, prior to its return to Renault identity.

He became the team’s head of performance systems group in 2014, and maintained the same role into the Alpine era, until going onto gardening leave last year.

Previously he worked for Prodrive’s Subaru WRC team, and on the Peugeot LMP1 programme, which included a Le Mans win in 2009.

“I am extremely excited to finally join Moneygram Haas F1 team this coming week as Toyota project manager, with the key accountability to drive the collaboration between Haas F1 and Toyota Gazoo Racing,” he said.

“I have everything to learn about the team, the project, and the partner, and the state-of-charge is at 100% for a challenge which will be quite different from the previous one.

“I am eager to meet my new team mates and to contribute to the next steps in the progress of the team via this new project.”

Genon also paid tribute to his former colleagues at Alpine, including the PU personnel whose F1 role ends this season.

“A big thank you to all those I had the pleasure of working with in the past 12 years, whether they are still there, or have moved on. Thank you for the support, the collaboration… And the laughs.

“I also spare a thought for Viry-Chatillon where I always felt very welcome. There are many good people there and so much heritage. For those wishing to continue in top level motorsport, I hope that you find what you want.

“I have no doubt that Enstone is also still full of talent and will provide fierce competition in my next adventure.”

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December 17, 2024 · 12:10 pm

Hulkenberg: Haas 2024 turnaround “a hell of an achievement”

Haas made good forward progress in 2024

Nico Hulkenberg believes that the progress of Haas from last place in the World Championship in 2023 to seventh this season was “a hell of an achievement” for the US-owned team.

Haas struggled badly with tyre management with the VF-23, but managed to successfully address the issue with this year’s car.

In addition under new team principal Ayao Komatsu the team fared much better in the development race than it had done in previous seasons, maintaining strong form all the way to the final race. It ultimately just lost out to Alpine in the battle for sixth.

“You forget quickly where we were last year, and how down we were some days, and how much shit we had to eat!,” said Hulkenberg, who joins Sauber in 2025.

“It was tough last year. And to have come out and turned that situation around like we did, it’s a hell of an achievement from everyone in the team.

“I really enjoyed being part of that. It’s been very enjoyable with everyone. I think Ayao has done a fantastic job this year as TP.

“So many things came at him, and he’s really worked through all of them. It’s been impressive and good. Just leave happy.

“They’re a strong contender, if they keep working like this, I know they’re a serious contender in the future, probably in and around the fight for P5.”

Hulkenberg, who finished 11th in the drivers’ championship, indicated that 2024 was one of his better seasons.

“Definitely one of the most consistent,” he said. “I feel I probably had similar, really good seasons, 2017, 2018 even going back to 2016, I’ve had a lot of those seasons, I think.

“But probably it’s the one that I’ve enjoyed the most, and the highs as well as the lows. And just enjoyed the challenge, enjoyed being here, and it’s been very fun.”

Regarding falling behind Alpine he said: “It slipped through our hands in Brazil, unfortunately, obviously, they took a huge chunk out of us. And in Qatar too I think their progress rate has been very impressive in the last quarter of the season.

“And Pierre [Gasly] has also driven amazingly, no mistakes, very consistent, as we know him. So fair play to them.”

Hulkenberg conceded that 2025 won’t be an easy season for Sauber given its last place this season, and the strength of the teams in the midfield battle.

“It’s a competitive sport, and everyone is pushing a lot,” he said. “The air is very thin, like we saw now, Alpine is back, probably Aston will come back. So it’s going to be tough. And I think there’s work ahead at Sauber, no doubt.

“But lately it’s looked a bit brighter. It looked like the Vegas update for them did something, and put them on the right track, in the right direction.”

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December 7, 2024 · 10:01 am

Slade leaves Haas F1 team on eve of Magnussen’s final race

Kevin Magnussen has had a change of race engineer for his final weekend at Haas

Veteran race engineer Mark Slade has left the Haas Formula 1 team on the eve of Kevin Magnussen’s final race in Abu Dhabi.

Slade was still looking after Magnussen last weekend in Qatar, but he is not at the Yas Marina Circuit, and is understood to have cut his ties with the team. Haas declined to comment on the situation.

Slade will be replaced this weekend by head of performance engineering Dominic Haines, who used to be a race engineer for Romain Grosjean and others before stepping back into a more factory-based role.

He was due to be in Abu Dhabi anyway for the upcoming test, but is now running Magnussen this weekend as the team fights Alpine and VCARB in the constructors’ championship.

Slade brought a wealth of experience gained with McLaren, Renault/Lotus and Mercedes to Haas when he joined in September 2022.

He started at McLaren in 1991, and over 18 years with the Woking outfit he worked in a variety of engineering roles, notably with Mika Hakkinen, David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen, including during the latter’s two title near misses in 2003 and 2005.

He moved to Renault for the 2010 season but then switched to Mercedes in 2011 to engineer Michael Schumacher, assisted by Lewis Hamilton’s current engineer, Peter Bonnington.

However he again stayed for only one season before moving back to Renault in 2012. He stayed with the Enstone team through the Lotus years, when he was reunited with Raikkonen.

In 2017-’19 he ran Nico Hulkenberg. His last trackside role with Renault was running Esteban Ocon in 2020, before a reshuffle at the end of the season. He subsequently left the team, and was on the sidelines for a while before he joined Haas.

Slade is highly regarded by drivers with whom he’s formed a close bond, such as Heikki Kovalainen, who worked with him at McLaren in 2008 and 2009 and again briefly at Lotus in 2013.

“I think having Mark Slade as my engineer was a significant factor,” the Finn told this writer. “It was relatively easy to start working with him [at Lotus] because I knew him from McLaren days, and I knew how he works.

“He knew what I needed as well. If I got lost he could actually make suggestions just by looking at the telemetry, so it was really helpful. I had a good time at McLaren with him and he’s worked with some really good drivers, and he’s obviously a great engineer.”

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