Sunday, December 22, 2024

Major Ferrari announcement as Haas confirm plans for F1 2026 and beyond

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Haas have announced that they have extended their technical partnership with Ferrari until the end of the F1 2028 season.

Haas have held a close technical partnership with Ferrari since their F1 entry in 2016, with the unique arrangement allowing the American team to run as many Ferrari-built parts as is allowed under F1’s regulations.

Haas-Ferrari here to stay until F1 2028

Reports last week had suggested the team – who also receive technical assistance from Italian company Dallara – were considering joining forces with Toyota, the Japanese manufacturer who last competed in F1 in 2009.

However, Haas announced on Tuesday that the team will continue to work closely with Ferrari after the major F1 2026 regulations – featuring sweeping changes to both the chassis and engine rules – come into effect.

Ayao Komatsu, the Haas team principal, said: “I’m thrilled to extend our relationship with Scuderia Ferrari until 2028.

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“As an organisation we’ve only ever raced with Ferrari power units and to have that continued stability moving into the next set of power unit regulations is a key part of our on-going development.

“The relationship with Scuderia Ferrari has always been a special one to us – they were instrumental in the genesis of the program back in the early days and have continued to be a valuable technical partner to us throughout the past nine seasons.

“I’m delighted we now have more seasons ahead and my thanks go to [Ferrari team principal] Fred Vasseur and many others at Scuderia Ferrari for continuing to show faith in our project.

“This announcement is just another example of the long-term ambition of MoneyGram Haas F1 Team – our investment and growth in the sport continues.”

Having finished bottom of the Constructors’ Championship twice in the last three seasons, Haas have emerged as the surprise package of the F1 2024 campaign and currently hold seventh place in the Constructors’ standings ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest.

Haas’s score of 27 points sees them sit 18 points ahead of eighth-placed Alpine and four shy of sixth-placed VCARB, the Red Bull junior team.

Lead driver Nico Hulkenberg continued Haas’s fine start to the season at the recent British Grand Prix at Silverstone, where the veteran recorded his second successive sixth-placed finish.

Haas announced over the British GP weekend that highly rated Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman will replace Sauber/Audi-bound Hulkenberg for F1 2025, with the identity of Bearman’s team-mate yet to be confirmed.

Multiple reports at Silverstone, verified by PlanetF1.com, indicated that Alpine driver Esteban Ocon has signed a contract to join Haas for next season with an announcement expected ahead of the Hungarian GP.

If confirmed, Ocon’s arrival would likely signal the end of the grand prix career of Kevin Magnussen, who has spent seven of his nine full seasons in F1 with Haas.

The Danish driver has scored just eight points across the last two seasons since returning to the sport with Haas in F1 2022, but recently ended a run of seven races without scoring in Austria.

Read next: Next F1 2025 move ‘imminent’ as current driver faces exit – report

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