END OF YEAR REPORT: Haas’ best and worst moments from 2025 and driver head-to-heads

Haas did not quite reach the goal of matching their P7 finish of 2024 this time around, but it proved to be a positive second half of the season for the American outfit, featuring regular points finishes and a particularly strong run for Ollie Bearman. Here is the team’s end of year report…

Best finish

Ollie Bearman – 4th in Mexico

During the first half of the campaign, Esteban Ocon recorded Haas’ then-best finish of P5 in China, a result that they were unable match in the races that followed as the squad struggled for consistency.

However, that points tally was boosted more frequently post-summer break – particularly by Bearman, who equalled the team’s best-ever result in their history when he crossed the line in fourth at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Bearman labelled his P4 as a “feel-good moment”, having climbed from P9 on the grid and gone wheel-to-wheel with none other than Max Verstappen along the way.

Qualifying head-to-head

Bearman 14-10 Ocon

When we assessed the head-to-head Qualifying statistics for Haas at the midway point of the season, Ocon was leading Bearman on 8-6.

It is Bearman, however, who ends the year on top, outqualifying his team mate on 14 occasions, which included a career-best P8 in both Austin and Sao Paulo.

Race head-to-head

Bearman 12-12 Ocon

As was the case in Qualifying trim, Ocon had the edge over Bearman in the race day numbers following the first half of the season – but the pair end 2025 on equal footing, each having finished ahead of the other 12 times. Bearman recorded three DNFs in comparison to just one for Ocon.

In terms of points scored, Bearman just beats his team mate by a tally of three, having collected 41 points – putting him in P13 of the Drivers’ Championship – while Ocon scored 38 in P15.

Best moment

There have been several double points finishes for Haas in 2025, starting with a much-needed score in China, a result that marked quite a turnaround from a challenging race one week earlier in Australia.

But, as touched on above, the most special was arguably in Mexico, with Bearman sealing that impressive fourth place – matching the team’s previous best finish by Romain Grosjean back in 2018 – while Ocon added to the haul by taking two extra points in ninth.

It was a fitting achievement for Bearman in what proved to be an impressive second half of the season for the 20-year-old, with Team Principal Ayao Komatsu saying of the result: “Ollie drove fantastic and gave us completely the right information, the strategy guys did an amazing job – race engineer, performance engineer, everyone gave the right information to the driver communicating, so it was just a huge team effort, and finally, we managed to get a big result.”

Worst moment

Haas had hoped to remain in the fight for P7 of the Teams’ Championship until the end – but their chances of challenging Aston Martin for the position took a dent during a particularly difficult weekend in Qatar.

While Bearman initially looked to be in the fight for points, the Briton received a 10-second stop/go penalty due to his car being released from a pit stop in an unsafe condition, before he later retired from the race. Ocon also took a penalty for a false start – and then received a second penalty for failing to serve the first correctly, the Frenchman eventually crossing the line down in P15.

Looking back further, other tough moments for Haas included their tricky start to the campaign in Australia – where they found themselves way off the pace – and an intra-team collision between Bearman and Ocon at Silverstone, with both finishing outside of the points.

Goals for 2026

Despite the team missing out on that seventh place, Haas actually scored more points in 2025 than in the previous campaign, and Komatsu spoke of his pride following the season finale in Abu Dhabi at how the outfit had managed to make progress for a second consecutive year.

“This year the competition is so much tighter, and in the last seven races, we scored in six of them,” he explained. “It’s amazing that we’ve improved the cars two years in a row and finished the season on a high, it gives us confidence going into next year.”

Indeed, that upward trajectory will surely provide a solid platform for Haas entering into 2026. There is also an increased sense of stability this time around as Bearman and Ocon go into their second campaign with the team – another factor that the squad will be hoping to benefit from amid the uncertainty posed by new technical regulations.

Like Komatsu, both drivers spoke of the strong foundations that they believe are in place for Haas to build on next season. Bearman in particular will likely take heart from his promising run in the latter half of 2025; if he can iron out the occasional mistakes that crept in, the British driver could be one to watch in 2026.