As Haas F1 approaches 10 years in the sport, it looks like they are starting up a new department to manage running/maintaining cars from previous seasons for testing, show runs, etc.

https://www.racestaff.com/job/heritage-chief-engineer-4425

https://www.racestaff.com/job/heritage-lead-mechanic-4426

https://www.racestaff.com/job/heritage-systems-engineer-4424

I expect we'll see a big marketing push in 2026 with the old machinery to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the team's debut.

2 points from Nico today with nothing from VCARB means they're closing in on 6th in the constructors.

I don't know how either team historically does at the last half dozen tracks, but the car looks strong right now, while I understand last year they really fell off due to tire deg issues?

Either way, the chance to jump from 10th to 6th is awesome, hopefully they have a strong showing in the Americas.

I truly believe that this team is in the best place it’s ever been, and next year’s lineup is really exciting. This season, there have been many points scored and moments where the team was on the verge of scoring points, with several P11 finishes that were close to breaking into the top ten. Additionally, there have been many upgrades that have worked well, and both Kmag and Nico have spoken highly of how efficient Ayao Komatsu has been. I believe Ayao will continue to do great things for the team.

Looking ahead to the lineup, I think signing Esteban Ocon was a very good decision. He is a race winner and multiple podium finisher who has shown that he is capable of consistently scoring points. I also disagree with the bad teammate narrative surrounding him, as many of the incidents have been blown out of proportion, and some weren’t his fault like Melbourne and a few with Perez. Personally, I like Ocon because of his humble background, and I believe he fits well with the no BS and politics free environment at Haas, which is different with what he experienced at Alpine. I understand some people may not like him, but I hope you give him a chance.

As for Oliver Bearman, I believe he is a promising talent. He has performed well in the junior categories, and in his two starts in F1, he has shown great potential. While he was lucky to take points in Baku, he has shown strong promise. I’m looking forward to seeing how he develops.

I just wanted to spread some positivity and share my excitement for what’s to come!

That was so much worse than what KMag got penalized for.

Hulk either picked up bodywork or took damage from the crash. Just watched the onboards. Bogus as fuck, we lose out on 2 points for some bad luck.

Great race from Ollie, rough around the edges but some real talent and speed!

How Bearman gets above Hulk? Hulk was P9, Albon overtook him, but when did Colapinto and above all Bearman overtook him? I think he was P10 when the SC occured, how did Ollie get in front? Hulk was having a banger of a race, again a P11...

Assuming Ollie is confirmed and scores points in Baku, how would the points tally be displayed on the world feed after Crofty reads off the starting grid order, where they typically show the team logo next to the driver's name?

He'd have scored points with two different teams this season. Show both logos next to one another?

Whay was that???!!!??!!

is there an explanation why Magnusen was kept on the track for so long? and why did they put medium instead of hard when changing the tires?

I think Hulk was doing good with starting set of mediums. I think it was bit too early for a 1-stopper.

Did they changed tire strat after realizing Gasly was aiming for a 1-stopper?

As a result, bailiffs and police visited the Haas team at Zandvoort on Thursday night to push forward with the matter and evaluate the team’s assets.

While it was agreed that Haas’s participation in the Dutch Grand Prix could proceed as normal, it is understood that the team has been told that it will not be allowed to remove its cars and equipment from the country after the race until the outstanding payment has been made.

First, Guenther. I think if you wanted to start an F1 team, to push through a new field of motorsports, you need person like him. Someone who can gather attention from the media/sponsors/other teams etc. I think Guenther did a good job at creating Haas and making people interested in this new team. However, to actually run a team, to understand the techical aspects, to make strategic decisions, I think Guenther may not be the best TP for that kind of things.

Ayao, on the other hand started as Grosjean's race engineer. He has a better grasp on technical problems, developments, strategy calls etc. Also he understands Haas is an underdog, and it is not gonna compete against front runners like Ferrari/Mercedes, or even Aston Martin and makes decisions like proper underdog. 2024 Haas brought small, but effective(IMO) upgrades compared to Guenther's Random-Big-Updates-Go! updates in 2023 and we are getting better results compared to last 3~4 years. He had made good strat calls like Saudi Arabia, and while I criticized that super undercut strat in Spa, he was at least doing what he could.

Aaaand for the drivers.

Mick, I think both sides have something to say at each other. Mick can say Haas gave him shit car(especially VF-21), didn't have adequate personnel/facillity to actually develope his skills as driver. Haas can say to Mick that you became WDC(world destructor's champions) TWO years in a row, scored less than KMag, even though Mick may have finished races in higher positions compared to KMag, it was Kevin who actually brought more points home for Haas.

KMag, I wish he stayed at Haas in 2025, but if he decided to leave, then I wish him good luck.

And for Ocon, I doubt he will be worse driver than KMag. Only problem is he had tendency to race his teammates harder than actual competitors. He would finish P18 while his teammate P19 rather than finish P2 when his teamate score a win. I hope Ayao keeps a short leash on him.

I also think Ocon himself knows his Haas days could be his last. He is not "young" anymore and top teams are already settled with their driver lineups. TBH Haas isn't the most desireable team on the grid so if he messes up again in Haas, VF26 or whatever could be the last car he drives in F1. Haas could be his redemption arc or his downfall.

Final Thoughts

Haas always fell behind on updates, so races after summer break would be the real challenge. However Ayao's approach and methods are quite effective and we might be able to snatch P6 in WCC with good updates. I have hope!

https://lastwordonsports.com/motorsports/2024/08/08/haas-reveal-changes-that-sparked-2024-resurgence/

I really think that this new work-culture is waaaay better than Guenther's, not having to blame anyone and just working in order to solve the problems.

Everytime that Ayao talks, it makes me think better about him. We have one of the best tp in the grid, or that is what he is showing now at least.

Before the Team heads off for a well-deserved break away from racing, I wanted to quickly debrief the last two races before the summer recess, starting with Hungary. On race day in Budapest, I felt our performance was worse than expected due to the extra hot conditions. On Friday, I was optimistic as our long runs looked reasonably competitive when the track temperature was 43 degrees. However, when the track temperature rose close to 50 degrees on Sunday, we paid the price for not having sufficient downforce, as the Hungaroring is an extra high downforce track due to its short straights.

Unfortunately, Spa was largely the same story but on the other scale in terms of downforce requirement. Spa has long straights and it is possible to overtake. Therefore, you need an efficient car to strike a good balance between having a decent straight-line speed and good downforce in corners.

We brought a new low downforce rear wing, but we struggled a lot in corners with that wing. As a result, we decided not to use this and put more downforce on the car as we knew that qualifying was going to be wet. We couldn’t perform well in qualifying as our car did not function well with Intermediate tires. In the dry race, we simply lacked pace and could not reach top 10.

Having said that, on the positive side, Kevin's race was good. We did a good one-stop race and Kevin’s drive and feedback were good. We had in the early stages, a reasonable amount of confidence that we should switch to a one-stop race, and we executed that well.

To briefly summarize the first half of the season, I think it has been very positive. The results in the last two races haven’t been great but if we look at what we’ve achieved over the course of 14 races; to score 27 points and be P7 in the Constructors’ Championship, it’s great. We’re very close to P6, and having a 16-point gap back to P8 is a good place to be. What’s been most pleasing about this is everyone is working as a team. I'm asked how we’ve produced an update that works finally, and that’s solely because of teamwork. Moving on to the news that Esteban Ocon has signed to drive for the Team next year. It's very exciting to have our driver line-up confirmed for 2025 and beyond. With Esteban, we wanted a driver with experience, a proven track record, a good work ethic, and still young. At 27, Esteban’s a race winner and the first race winner to drive for MoneyGram Haas F1 Team.

He is really driven and determined to push himself, but also push the Team as well, so I think we can move forward together. I think our combination of Esteban and Ollie is really exciting.

For now though, I'm focused on enjoying the summer break. For the first week, I’m going to Paris to watch the Olympics, and then I'm heading to Scotland to take on the highest mountain in the UK with my sons. Having already climbed two of the three, that'll be the UK National Three Peaks completed.

It's an interesting way to wind down, I know, but I like being in nature. Whatever you decide to do while Formula 1 is on a short break, I hope you have fun and get ready for an action-packed second half of the season.

Ayao

Do you think that we could get p7 or even get p6 (i don't think that we can compete with VCARB).