The new season is fast approaching, and behind the scenes, all teams are already working to prepare for the new championship. Haas started its 2025 campaign a few days ago at Jerez with its first “historic” TPC (Test Previous Cars) session, using a car that’s at least two seasons old, a rare opportunity made possible this year thanks to new funding.
A first return to the track, albeit with an old car, while waiting for the season to begin and for the two drivers to get their first taste of the VF-25, the new car for the 2025 World Championship. As usual for the American team, there will be no dedicated car unveiling, even though in the past they were typically the first to reveal the shapes and colors of the new car through renders.
To see the new livery, fans will have to wait for the event organized by Formula 1 in London on February 18, when all ten teams will unveil their 2025 color schemes together.
Debut at Silverstone on February 16 with Ocon
However, the first appearance of the future VF-25 will come a few days earlier, on February 16, when the 2025 car will complete its first kilometers during a filming day at Silverstone, followed by another in Bahrain two days before the start of pre-season testing.
Haas has also decided to split the driving duties: Esteban Ocon will drive during the filming day in England, while Oliver Bearman will drive more consistently during the filming day in Bahrain. While this might seem unusual, it actually has a specific purpose.
Esteban Ocon is one of the tallest drivers on the grid, and the team has encountered some difficulty preparing the car for the French driver. Although Haas is confident these minor issues have been resolved, they want to take extra precautions: hence the decision to have Ocon drive first in Silverstone, allowing time to resolve any potential issues before testing begins. The seat fitting will take place in Italy next week.
The VF-25 Will Feature Different Solutions from Ferrari 2025
The VF-25 will also be a car that, for the first time, distances itself from some of Ferrari’s technical choices. Over the years, the American team has consistently chosen to adopt the latest specifications from Maranello for various components of their car, sometimes even aligning with their aerodynamic choices, especially during the ground-effect era.
However, this year the VF-25 will not entirely follow Ferrari’s lead, because, unlike the Scuderia, which has opted for a pull-rod front suspension for 2025, Haas will not modify the front suspension layout compared to last year. As reported by Motorsport.com and now confirmed by Team Principal Ayao Komatsu, the 2025 Haas car will keep the push-rod front suspension from the VF-24, setting it apart from Ferrari.
The change in layout has aerodynamic reasons and plays an important role, as it works closely with both the airflow from the front wing and influences how the airflow moves across the rest of the car. After technical assessments, including the time needed to revise the design for just one year before the 2026 revolution, Haas decided to stick with a familiar solution, maintaining the 2024 specification.
“This is another significant aspect because, up until now, in the nine seasons of Haas in F1, we’ve always chosen the latest specification from Ferrari. And not because it was a conscious decision, but because it was the safest and easiest choice,” commented Komatsu.
“When our technical leads came to speak to me… actually, it was something we had already discussed in previous seasons, but we never did it, we never did a carryover of the front suspension, for example. But this time our engineers looked at the priorities and said, ‘If we buy the latest 2025 front suspension specification from Ferrari, when will we have this information available? What will change aerodynamically?’
“Because, when you make such a change, it definitely has an impact, and you start making comparisons. At that point, you see how much potential that solution can unlock compared to the fact that we won’t stop development because we’re keeping the same suspension specification. How much potential is still in that specification?”
“Then you start doing specific studies, and our conclusion was that we should do a carryover. It’s positive that we did the thorough studies, so we had the confidence to make this decision, whereas before we didn’t have that. When the engineers recommended we do the carryover and go ahead with this specification after doing in-depth studies, I said, ‘Okay, let’s go down this path.'”
While the front suspension will remain unchanged, the rear suspension, as well as the gearbox casing, will instead adopt the solutions designed by Ferrari for 2025, so Haas will be equipped with the latest specification, including all the updates.
New Chassis for More Freedom and Unlocking Untapped Potential
With 2026 and the new technical regulations on the horizon, it was speculated that some teams might limit chassis changes with a carryover. However, that won’t be the case for Haas, as the VF-25 will feature a revised chassis: a necessary change to allow greater design freedom, particularly aerodynamically.
During the development of the VF-24, last season’s car, engineers discovered that certain limitations due to the chassis design were hindering the unlocking of potential found during CFD studies. As a result, the VF-25 will feature a redesigned body, giving technicians more room to implement new solutions.
“Yes, [we’ll have a new chassis]. Last year, we developed the car quite well, but there were some limitations we had to accept. Midway through the season, we learned how to unlock extra performance, but we couldn’t do it with the Silverstone and Austin packages due to the chassis design limitations. So, we decided to modify it this year.”
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