TEAM PREVIEW: Can Haas capitalise on their second-best finish and make further gains in 2025?

In Haas’ first F1 season without Guenther Steiner at the helm as Team Principal, replacement Ayao Komatsu was keen to play down expectations early on. But what transpired was a campaign of promise and progress, even if the outfit just fell short of P6 in the Constructors’ Standings. Can the US squad go one better in 2025? Here’s all you need to know about the team ahead of the new season…

Drivers for 2025

Esteban Ocon #31: 1 Grand Prix win, 4 podiums, 445 points, 156 starts
Oliver Bearman #87: Best finish of P7, 7 points, 3 starts

It’s an all-new driver line-up for Haas in 2025 with last year’s pairing of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen departing for new adventures – the German has signed for Kick Sauber while the Dane has left F1 to act as a works driver for BMW Motorsport.

In their place come race winner Esteban Ocon, the Frenchman joining following five seasons with Alpine/Renault, as well as young Briton Ollie Bearman who embarks on his full rookie season.

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Ollie Bearman makes his full-season debut this year with Haas

Esteban Ocon turns out for Haas this year after leaving Alpine

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Ollie Bearman makes his full-season debut this year with Haas

Bearman was, of course, one of the stories of 2024 thanks to his various super-sub appearances across the year. The 19-year-old was on hand to step up in place of Carlos Sainz at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – after the Spaniard withdrew with appendicitis – and came a memorable seventh on his debut, becoming the youngest-ever driver to compete for Ferrari in the process.

He was in action again in Azerbaijan as he made an early debut for Haas in place of the banned Magnussen – his P10 result meaning he became the first driver in F1 history to score points for two different teams in his first two races – and he would make another appearance for Haas in Brazil when the Dane was taken ill.

Ocon, meanwhile, is the first Grand Prix winner to race a Haas car – his sole triumph coming at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Frenchman knows Komatsu well, the Japanese Team Principal having engineered Ocon in his first Formula 1 test with Lotus at Valencia in 2014, and his experience will undoubtedly help the squad.

Haas will be Ocon’s fourth team he’s turned out for on the grid, having made his debut with Manor in 2016, before a two-year stint with Force India. He then spent a season on the sidelines as Mercedes’ reserve driver. He returned with Renault in 2020 and stuck with the team through their Alpine guise before his exit after the penultimate race of 2024.

Inside Story: Bearman's stellar F1 debut

Last season

The 2024 season witnessed huge change at Haas before the on-track action had even begun as long-time team boss Guenther Steiner departed in January. Then Director of Engineering Komatsu stepped up to replace him, himself a veteran of the team having been with Haas since they first entered F1 in 2016.

While the Japanese Team Principal poured cold water on any hopes for quick improvements following their last-placed finish in the 2023 Constructors’ Standings, things soon started to look up.

The team went on to secure their second-best finish in the Constructors’ of P7 and would beat better resourced teams in Racing Bulls, Williams and Kick Sauber. Double points finishes in Australia, Austria and Mexico were particularly special moments.

Toyota’s racing arm also became a partner late last year to bring in 10s of millions per year while MoneyGram remain a strong title partner to the squad. All of that means that team owner Gene Haas won’t put a single cent of his own money into the outfit for the first time since they entered the sport – and they’re set to become profitable. This represents significant progress for the smallest outfit on the grid.

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - OCTOBER 25: Haas F1 Team Principal Ayao Komatsu attends the Team Principals — Ayao Komatsu led Haas to P7 in his first season as Team Principal

History

Haas are the most recent all-new F1 entry after Gene Haas bought the factory of the Banbury-based Marussia F1 team to enter the sport in 2016. While they may be the smallest outfit, they have punched above their weight – and strong links with Ferrari have helped the operation to keep costs down.

Their first two seasons saw them finish P8 in the Constructors’, before an impressive P5 finish was achieved in 2018. That year still represents their best-ever finish as the next two seasons brought a slump to P9, before a point-less campaign in 2021 that saw them finish last.

In 2022 Haas recovered to P8, but again dropped to last in 2023, with the departure of Steiner following soon after.

With 2024’s P7 representing their second-best result ever, the hope will be that Haas can keep improving amid last year’s positive momentum.

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - FEBRUARY 29: Guenther Steiner walks in the Paddock prior to practice ahead of — Guenther Steiner departed Haas at the start of 2024

Greatest achievement

While last year threw up some amazing Haas highlights – the aforementioned double points finishes and Hulkenberg’s back-to-back P6 results in Austria and Britain spring to mind – we have to look a bit further back here in Haas’ history.

Magnussen’s shock pole at the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix is a worthy contender, but ultimately you can’t look past that 2018 campaign that saw the squad take P5.

The Dane was racing for the team then too, alongside Romain Grosjean, as the pair combined to bag 93 points across the year.

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - JULY 27: Romain Grosjean of France and Haas F1 and Kevin Magnussen of Denmark — 2018 was the high watermark of Haas' relatively short F1 career thus far

One key goal for 2025

Even though Haas just missed out on P6 last year – thanks in part to Alpine’s extraordinary double podium in Sao Paulo that catapulted them up the Constructors’ Standings – the team still enjoyed their strongest-ever end to a season with points scored in eight of the last nine Grands Prix.

On the track they need to get their new driver pairing up to speed quickly and try to continue that fantastic momentum – although thankfully for them, Bearman will know his way around the outfit much better after his appearances last year.

Should they start 2025 the way they ended 2024 then who knows what could be possible. Perhaps an improvement to P6 – or could they potentially be in the running to match what they achieved in 2018? Time will tell…