Haas F1 has announced its plans for the presentation of its new single-seater for the 2025 season. The Haas VF-25 will run for the first time at Silverstone on February 16 during a filming day in the hands of Esteban Ocon.
According to Komatsu, the Frenchman, who is one of the biggest on the grid, will drive first, “because Esteban, in terms of installing the driver, is more difficult. So we want to make 100% sure that everything is okay, so that if there is a problem, we have more time to react.”
This is a precaution in case changes need to be made, although it should not be a problem given that Ocon has driven in the single-seaters the previous two seasons without issue.
Bearman will next be behind the wheel of the car during the team’s second day of filming, two days before the start of pre-season testing, which takes place February 26-28. It is therefore on February 24 that the Englishman will test the VF-25 for the first time.
Classic suspensions unlike Ferrari
Haas has used Ferrari suspensions for many years, but the team is not going to turn to the Scuderia’s 2025 solutions. Which means that the two cars should be quite different in aerodynamic terms.
Indeed, Ferrari has apparently decided to use pullrod suspensions at the front of its new single-seater, like McLaren and Red Bull in particular, but Haas will remain in a more traditional pushrod configuration, similar to that of 2024 and before.
The American team should nevertheless use Ferrari’s 2025 suspension, as well as the latest specification gearbox, but adapt a front suspension close to 2024, and certainly modified to better adapt to the whole.
The use of pullrods at the front has been successful at McLaren and Red Bull, not least because of certain aerodynamic advantages it provides, which arise directly from the geometry. And the advantages are also remarkable in terms of suspension settings and adaptation of ground clearance.
However, Haas refused to use this as the team wanted continuity on a technical level. Ayao Komatsu, its director, explains that the objective was to seek continuity and that the performances that the team got from the 2024 configuration were satisfactory. However, this is a great first.
“This is an important moment in my mind, because so far, in the nine seasons of the Haas F1 team, we have always opted for the latest Ferrari parts, not because it was an informed choice , but because it was the safest and easiest choice” Komatsu said, recalling that choosing the last piece requires you to wait longer.
“It’s not like this year we want to prove ourselves, but Andrea [De Zordo, directeur technique]Davide [Paganelli, responsable de l’aérodynamique] and Damien [Brayshaw, directeur de la performance] came to me and told me it was the right decision.”
“They had been talking about it for a few seasons, but we never kept the front suspension. But when they looked into it, they said ‘if we buy the 2025 front suspension from Ferrari, when will we get the necessary information and what does this mean in terms of aerodynamic impact’.”
“Because you must first suffer an impact, then recover this performance. We must therefore compare this and the potential that this releases with the benefit that we obtain if we do not stop development because we retains the front suspension.”
“They did the appropriate study and the conclusion was that we should transfer. We then had the confidence to make that decision, which was not the case before.”
The Japanese is convinced that with the new regulations to come, waiting to have the 2025 suspension would have been synonymous with sacrificing the season: “At the end of the day, we have to be competitive in 2025 as well. It’s not like we can say we focus on the 2026 season and forget about the 2025 season.”
-“That was the excuse used in the past, but it’s not possible. So we asked ourselves what was the best solution to be the best in 2025. And after the appropriate study, their recommendation was that we should opt for postponement. So I said let’s do that.”
Komatsu assures that the VF-25 will be “an evolution of what has been learned” in 2024, especially since the development had been very positive: “We developed the 2024 car well last year, but there are some limitations that we had to accept.”
“And then we learned mid-season how to unlock performance – even things we wanted to do for Silverstone and Austin, but couldn’t do because of the limitations of the chassis design. So we decided to change this year’s car.”
The launch and running dates for the 2025 F1 cars already confirmed:
— Williams FW47 – 14 février (Silverstone, shakedown)
— Haas VF-25 – February 16 (Silverstone, shakedown)
— Racing Bulls VCARB 02 – 17 février (Imola, shakedown) **
— Red Bull Racing RB 21 – 18 février (O2 Arena)
— Ferrari – 19 février (Maranello, shakedown)
— Aston Martin F1 AMR25 – February 25 (Sakhir, shakedown) **
— Mercedes F1 W16 – February 25 (Sakhir, shakedown) **
* All F1 teams are participating in the show on February 18 at the O2 Arena, at least with new liveries on old single-seaters.
** These shakedowns will take place behind closed doors but the teams could communicate about it and send photos. So keep an eye on it!
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