Haas F1 warns it hasn’t “solved the problem” despite double points in China
A strong result in China doesn't mean Haas is out of the woods yet.
Ayao Komatsu insists Haas is yet to solve the problem that plagued its performance in Australia, despite coming away with double points in last weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix.
The American squad made a shocking start to the 2025 Formula 1 season in Melbourne, with Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman finishing near the bottom of the order in both qualifying and the race.
However, it took just one week for Haas to bounce back from that disastrous outing, with Ocon crossing the finish line in seventh place in Shanghai and rookie Bearman picking up the final championship point in 10th.
Disqualifications for Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton promoted Ocon to fifth and Bearman to eighth, helping Haas secure its best points haul in an F1 race since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix.
While naturally jubilant after the result, Haas team principal Komatsu warned that the squad is yet to fix the root cause of the issue that impacted its performance in the Australian GP.
As such, Komatsu expects Haas’ race results to vary from track to track.
“It's not going to be like this [like China] at every circuit,” he said in F1’s official post-race show.
“I'm not kidding myself to say we have solved the problem. We haven't. So certain circuits we go to, we are still going to have a problem.
“But when we can operate the car in the way that we want, thanks to the circuit characteristics, this is what we can do.”
"Amazing reaction" from Haas
The Chinese GP marked Haas’ first top-five finish in F1 since Kevin Magnussen finished fifth in the 2022 season opener in Bahrain.
The result also elevated it to sixth in the constructors' championship, just three points behind fifth-placed Ferrari.
Komatsu praised Haas for its epic turnaround in China, saying the entire team spread across the UK, the US and Italy came together to recover from the “shock” it received in Australia.
“It's an amazing reaction from the whole team,” he said. Australia was a shock to us, it was not something we were expecting based on Bahrain testing, but what a reaction.
“Everybody, people in Italy, the UK, the US and trackside working together within a space of seven days. And honestly, I'm so happy with the way we have been working since that shock to get that result here.
“It means so much. I'm so happy with everyone's reaction. Everyone has a failure but failure shouldn't define you. What defines you is how you get up from that failure and I think that the whole team showed we are a proper race team. I'm so happy for everyone.”
