Haas F1 has eyes on both the present and the future

The 2025 Formula 1 season has yet to begin.

But teams have already started thinking about 2026.

It has been said that F1 is as much a racing competition to be won, as it is an engineering puzzle to be solved. While that is the case every season, that particular riddle will come into clear focus next season. The sport’s governing body is set to introduce the latest series of technical regulations, changes to the sport that could shake up the entire field.

With a new era dawning, teams are forced to strike a delicate balance between focusing their energy on 2025 and trying to get ahead for 2026. The allure of getting a leg up on the competition when the new regulations arrive is enticing, as outlined recently by Adrian Newey, one of the sport’s greatest engineers. Newey, who is set to join Aston Martin next month, posited recently that a team could dominate the next few years if they get things right out of the gate.

The idea of dominance certainly has its appeal.

That means teams are trying to strike the right balance, but as Alpine Team Principal Oliver Oakes admitted to me ahead of last year’s United States Grand Prix, 2026 is critically important.

“And then you go into the winter, you know, we’ve got it at the moment, where how much effort do you put into the beginning of 2025? Because the new rules come out in January and you kind of go, well, we want to make a really good car to start 2025,” said Oakes in Austin last October. “But actually, we know 2026 is the most important thing for the team.”

Another team with an eye on 2026? The team Alpine edged out for sixth in the Constructors’ Championship standings last year, Haas.

While the team has an all-new driver lineup for 2025 — veteran Esteban Ocon joins from Alpine while incoming rookie Oliver Bearman makes the leap from F2 — they are also balancing getting the most out of their 2025 challenger, and preparing for 2026.

In a media report that followed F1 75 Live, Technical Director Andrea De Zoro and Head of Aerodynamics Davide Paganelli talked about the technical aspects of the VF-25, the team’s challenger for the 2025 season. Part of that discussion? The acknowledgment that the team has already begun work on next year’s challenger.

“We’ve already started working on our 2026 car, as FIA regulations permit teams to start working seriously on the project in terms of aerodynamics from January 2, 2025,” said Paganelli. “We started doing both the simulation and started preparing the wind tunnel activities for the new car. We know that because the competition will be very tight, we have to provide in-season updates, and we’ll try to use the same philosophy as the previous year, ensuring we’re happy with the direction and we can see results before proceeding with further updates.”

Both De Zoro and Paganelli expect a tough fight in 2025, but wonder how teams are going to balance ambitions for the present, and ambitions for the future.

“I expect it to be a very, very tough season – a tight field and strong competition,” said De Zoro. “Every point will be a battle, and we need to be perfect. We need to be focused from the beginning and not leave any opportunity, because it will cost us.”

“We want to improve what we did last year and to be able to build again as a team. Continuing to work on the relationship we were able to find in working together better, ready for the next challenge ahead, which comes in the shape of the 2026 regulations,” added Paganelli. “It’s not clear right now if teams are going to push or not with the current car but I highly doubt any other team will give up. I expect a very tough and tight competition again.”

How teams like Haas, and the rest of the grid, balance upgrades for 2025 and preparations for 2026 will be a huge story to watch this F1 season.