Revealed: When Haas’ F1 2025 car will break cover on track

Haas have confirmed when their 2025 F1 car will hit the track for the first time ahead of the new season.

The VF-25 is set to break cover on 16 February at Silverstone as Haas complete a filming day at the home of the British Grand Prix.

New signing Esteban Ocon is set to get the first run in Haas’ 2025 F1 challenger.

Rookie teammate Oliver Bearman will then get behind the wheel for a second filming day in Bahrain, two days before official pre-season testing takes place between 26-28 February.

Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu also confirmed Bearman will be first to drive in pre-season testing.

“We’ll have Esteban driving, because in terms of driver installation, he is more challenging,” Komatsu told media including F1.com.

“We just want to make sure 100% Esteban’s installation is fine. So, if we have got an issue, we have more time to react.

“With Ollie, we’re pretty confident. We’re pretty confident with Esteban as well, but we’re more confident with Ollie’s installation than Esteban.

So, Esteban will run first and then Ollie in the Bahrain shakedown. That means Ollie will start pre-season testing.”

Along with the other nine teams, Haas will unveil their 2025 livery at F1’s special season launch event at London’s O2 Arena on 18 February.

Haas target 2025 consistency

Haas finished seventh in the constructors’ championship last term, marking their best result since 2018.

And Komatsu, who took over as team principal from the ousted Guenther Steiner this time last year, wants the American outfit to build on the consistency they demonstrated in 2024.

“I’ve got my sights set on consistency,” he added. “We finished P7 last year. In the history of Haas, across the years I don’t think we’ve been competitive across seasons in a similar manner.

“For me, what was encouraging last year was our competitiveness increased through the season. Then we scored the most points in the last quarter of the year. Since Monza, we only missed a point in Brazil. That was encouraging.

“I’d like to continue that level of consistency, but I only expect competition to be tighter this year. Alpine, Williams, Sauber and RB – they are all going to be better as well. So, I don’t know how packed the midfield will be but I expect it to be tight.”

Haas announced on Tuesday that Laura Muller will become F1’s first-ever female race engineer as part of a major restructuring of personnel at the team.

Muller will be the voice in the ear of Ocon, while Bearman will be engineered by Ronan O’Hare. Both have earned promotions from their former roles as performance engineers.