Oliver Bearman explains why Haas’ 2026 F1 car is ‘hitting its ceiling’
Oliver Bearman believes Haas cannot extract much more performance from its 2026 Formula 1 car, following the United States Grand Prix.
Bearman displayed encouraging Friday pace at the Circuit of The Americas, with 11th and 10th in the opening two free practice sessions, before slipping down the order – to the extent that he qualified just 16th.
The Briton explained this was down to finding a near-perfect set-up as early as FP1, meaning his VF-26 lost pace relative to the competition as his rivals made inroads on that front.
“It shows that we’re doing a good job as a team,” he said. “We’re getting the most out of our car from FP1, basically. We had a car that we really changed the ride height, I tell you, by one millimetre the whole weekend. From where I started to where I raced the car? Same car.
“Because it was good. Because it was great. From the first time I put the soft tyre in FP1, in my FP1 debrief, I was like, ‘I don’t know what else I need from the car’. It’s very, very good. I mean, the balance is good, it’s feeling good. We just don’t have enough downforce. So it feels good, but we’re just not quite as quick as others.”
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
Haas is held back by its latest substantial upgrade package dating back to the Italian Grand Prix, nearly two months ago. Since then, no new parts have been introduced other than a Sepang-specific rear impact structure.
“I’m not surprised that we kept the same relative gap to the leaders and everybody else just managed to improve and overtake us,” Bearman continued. “It means that we have a kind of predictable, benign car. The characteristics are very good, but we simply don’t have enough downforce, and it’s very clear: as the lap goes on, even in qualifying, the competitiveness gets worse because we just kill the tyres and we can’t hold on to them.
“It’s frustrating, but at the same time, what else can we expect? Our competitors brought upgrades again this weekend. I mean, they brought like three or four times more upgrades than we have. So I’m not surprised that we’re getting outdone by all of them, they have faster cars than us.
“That’s why I don’t really regret the decision to go for it on Pierre. Because I know that if that doesn’t happen, I’m just going to follow him around and eventually get overtaken probably by the Audis, and that’s not what I’m here to do. I need to score points and that’s what we need to do as a team. Yeah, we need a faster car at the end.”
So will nothing more come from the VF-26? “Unfortunately not,” Bearman said. “No, it’s hit the ceiling.
“If I was just driving around by myself, I would be like, ‘Ah, the car feels very nice’. If I compare it to how it felt maybe three or four events ago, the characteristics have improved a lot. However, load is load, downforce is downforce, and we lack it.”
Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: James Sutton / LAT Images via Getty Images
Yet, team-mate Esteban Ocon might disagree about the VF-26’s alleged comfortable behaviour, with the Frenchman complaining of braking inconsistency following the Austin race.
“It comes in quali when you push the car to its limits,” Ocon detailed. “And when the tyre takes off, I need to anticipate braking 10-15 metres and I still do pick up a lot of locking and a lot of understeer. It’s not a very nice feeling, it’s quite unpredictable. It’s been there all weekend, so we minimised it, which I think was quite positive; with the engineers we managed to get it a little bit more under control, but the underlying problem is still there.”
The veteran struggled to 14th in the US GP, 34 seconds away from the points-scoring positions.
Additional reporting by Ronald Vording
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