Sunset in Sakhir often signals the end of another long day in Formula 1 pre-season testing – but for Haas, Friday’s final day of running felt more like the beginning of something brighter.
After a challenging 2025 campaign and a winter of rebuilding, the American outfit rolled out of the desert with optimism, data banks full and drivers encouraged by what they had discovered beneath the new regulations.
At the heart of that upbeat mood was Esteban Ocon, who emerged from the cockpit convinced that Haas had extracted extraordinary value from just three days of running.
Mileage was high, reliability held firm, and the VF program rarely missed a beat as engineers cycled through simulations and setup experiments.
“Feeling good,” Ocon said. “We’re probably the second team with the most laps throughout all of the testing phase.
“We’re really strong on the reliability side. We’ve managed to gather a lot of information, a lot of data, and we made a step forward in terms of performance and understanding.”
Mileage, Momentum and a Fresh Start
Testing is rarely about headline lap times alone, yet Haas managed to tick several encouraging boxes at once.
While Ollie Bearman’s sixth-fastest overall time drew attention, it was the consistency of the team’s runs – long stints, minimal stoppages and steady progression – that quietly impressed those watching from pit wall and paddock alike.
For Ocon, readiness was just as important as raw pace. Haas wasted little time getting its car on track compared to some rivals still ironing out early issues, a factor he believes gave the team a crucial head start in understanding the new technical landscape.
©Haas
“I think in terms of how ready we were, we were one of the first ones to put the car on track,” he added.
“Some teams were not ready. We were. And we brought some updates quite late into last year.
“So, it was very impressive from the team’s side to be able to be that ready and to be able to have the miles early on in the car.
“On that side of things it’s good. Of course, we still need to understand a lot of things.
“There’s a lot of items on the energy management and stuff we need to fix and get better, and that we are learning as we go.
“But overall I think, in three days, we’ve learned the amount that we learned in the whole of last year.”
Data Today, Direction Tomorrow
Team principal Ayao Komatsu shared the sense of cautious excitement, emphasizing that the true value of Bahrain lay not only in the laps completed but in the clarity those laps provided.
Every stint offered fresh insight, every adjustment another piece of a larger puzzle Haas is determined to solve more efficiently than in seasons past.
©Haas
“We’ve made another step in understanding the car, which is great, and now we have several days to digest that data and plan for the final test,” Komatsu said on Friday evening.
“Thanks to this amazing reliability, we’ve done 145 laps today, that's great. We can keep the car running, and when it’s on track, we can understand more every time.
“I’m very pleased with this whole test, we’ve made good progress.”
For a team eager to rebound from a disappointing eighth-place finish last year, progress itself is the headline.
Bahrain did not deliver trophies or championship points, but it offered something Haas arguably needed more – confidence backed by evidence. In the relentless rhythm of Formula 1 development, three productive days can sometimes change the tone of an entire season.
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