Haas’ struggles continued at the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP, with Team Principal Ayao Komatsu and the team still searching for answers as they try to understand the inconsistent performance of the VF-26. Heading into the summer break, both Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman extended their run of non-points scoring finishes in Budapest, capping off a difficult end to the first half of the season for the American outfit.
Ahead of the Hungarian GP weekend, Komatsu spoke in a print media sessiom about how Haas handled the on-track incident between Ocon and Bearman at Spa-Francorchamps. The pair made contact on the opening lap, with both drivers sustaining punctures that somewhat compromised their races.
“Yeah, exactly. That’s the point. We just have to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” said Komatsu when asked about the conversation he had behind closed doors with both of his drivers.
“But again, as always, even on a Sunday after the race, I just wanted to hear points of view from both sides, and then I put my points of view, and then we spoke about it, and then days after as well, so it’s all fine.”
Asked to elaborate on his stance, he simply said: “I don’t think I need to share that here. My interest is, of course, just whatever the reason, it just cannot happen again. Full stop. So we just got to have a clear rule of engagement.”
Heading into Budapest, Ocon had been vocal about the continued struggles Haas faced with their 2026 challenger, with inconsistencies becoming a recurring theme throughout the season. Ultimately, the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP brought another difficult result for Komatsu and Haas, with Ocon crossing the line in P16 and Bearman finishing P19 after a spin, as well as receiving a five-second time penalty for failing to respect blue flags.
VF-26 has inconsistencies that Haas “cannot pinpoint”
When asked about Ocon’s concerns with the car and why Haas had yet to find a solution, Komatsu said: “Yeah, because the inconsistency. I think we talked about it last week. As I said, I can’t remember when the first time I said it, the inconsistencies we’re having with car quality. We cannot pinpoint.
“Some of it we can pinpoint exactly where it’s coming from. We can rectify it, but if you don’t understand exactly where that’s coming, it’s difficult. Obviously, you cannot solve.”
He added: “So yeah, it’s an ongoing thing that we really need to improve. Again, I just repeat myself, but it doesn’t just happen with Esteban’s car. It happens on both cars at different points. So yeah, it’s something we really need to solve, because it’s very, very important to have that consistency.
“You’ve got to be able to have confidence putting, let’s say, same-spec assembly on the car and perform in exactly the same manner. So yeah, that’s something we really need to solve quickly, as quickly as possible and get on top of.”
He acknowledged that if Haas had identified the root cause of the VF-26’s inconsistencies, the team would have already addressed it. While certain issues have been solved, he admitted that the team is still searching for answers.
“Honestly, if I got the answer to that, we’d have solved it, right?” Komatsu said. “But certain things we identified, we solved it, but we still have an issue, right? So, honestly, I don’t have an answer to that at this minute.
“Then we’d have known by now if that’s the solution. We disassemble the car all the time.”
