Williams is wary of Haas being a big player in the midfield fight after it was hiding its pace during 2025 Formula 1 pre-season testing.
Williams featured prominently towards the top of the timesheets during testing with Alex Albon finishing third-fastest on Day 3 and Carlos Sainz’s chart-topping time on Day 2 the fastest of the test overall.
Such pace has prompted talk Williams will be at the forefront of the midfield fight.
Haas, meanwhile, rarely troubled the top of the timesheets but that is due to a clear run plan executed by the American F1 outfit, committing to high fuel load long runs, completing the second-most laps of any team during the three-day test.
That’s made Haas’ midfield rivals wary that it’s sandbagging, a term used to describe a team withholding its true pace.
Moreover, it’s made Williams Team Principal James Vowles question where Haas and his own squad will fall in the F1 pecking order for Round 1 in Australia.
Asked where he thinks Williams stands, Vowels told select media including Motorsport Week “I think it’s unfortunately too early to say that. I mean, [Haas Team Principal] Ayao [Komatsu] next to me is running all of his fuel and probably all of Ferrari’s fuel, if I look at the lap times.
“I think at the moment, what you are seeing, which is a great thing, is the difference in fuel mass and power loads is vastly the difference between the teams. That’s a good thing.
“That means the sport’s getting closer and closer together. But it’s not a cold, wet Bahrain that’s going to tell you the order I think realistically, it’s only when we get to Melbourne that we’ll see it.
“My view on that is the top four will be the top four. There’s a large gap between them and the midfield. So it’s going to be a scrap.”
Alex Albon: ‘Haas is going to be strong’
Albon shared his boss’ sentiment when it comes to Haas disguising its true pace.
Admittedly, the Anglo-Thai driver is unsure how the midfield pecking order will pay out but admits Haas is will be a prominent player in the mix.
“I think in the midfield, it’s hard to say because it feels a little bit more different in terms of everyone’s run plan,” he said.
“You know, Haas kind of commit to their style of run plan and it’s hard to know where they are but you know they’re going to be strong.”
Ayao Komatsu: ‘I think we are in the fight’
Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu spoke to select media including Motorsport Week on Friday and was questioned on how the midfield pecking order is set to fall.
“Williams looks quick, he replied. “Alpine looks quick as well.
“I think we are in a ballpark. I don’t know exactly where we are.
“I think we are in a fight. It’s a mixture. It’s so tight. At least I think we are in a mixture somewhere.”
But limited to no qualifying simulations means Haas and its rivals are in the dark when it comes to predicting where F1’s smallest team will land in the Australia season opener.
This doesn’t concern Komatsu.
“Even if I know we are P5 or P8, what am I going to do [before] Australia? Nothing is going to change,” he said.
“If we [had] some new parts planned to come to Australia, we are going to bring [them] anyway.
“If we didn’t, it’s not like ‘oh shit, we are P10, we need to bring something new.’ For me it’s not that important.”
Komatsu’s new team leader Esteban Ocon agrees and the Frenchman believes testing wasn’t ’the right moment’ for Haas to play its hand.
“Until we obviously go flat out in qualifying in Melbourne, we are not going to know if we will surprise the others or not, but what I know is that we are focussing on the right things, he said.
“We spotted what the weaknesses of the car are, where the strong points are, and that’s the most important for us.
“So, yes, of course you’re always eager to see what this car can do compared to the others, but it’s not necessarily the right moment to be doing that, and I agree with the team and the aims of what they are trying to achieve here.
“There is a time for everything, let’s call it.”
After finishing seventh in last year’s Constructors’ Championship amid a resurgent Alpine that snatched sixth, Haas could prove to be a dark horse in F1 this year.
While Williams dazzled atop the testing timesheets, Haas is compliant with lurking in the F1 shadows for now.
READ MORE – Carlos Sainz leads Ferrari duo on second day of 2025 F1 pre-season testing
