Haas set for historic first as F1 2025 driver line-up joined by Toyota talent

Haas will carry out a two-day TPC test at Jerez this week.
Haas will take part in a historic first this week, as its F1 2025 driver line-up will drive alongside a Toyota talent at Jerez.
Haas will blow off the cobwebs of the winter shutdown by running a Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) outing at Jerez de la Frontera in Spain this week.
Haas to carry out TPC test at Jerez
On Wednesday, 15th January, new Haas signing Ollie Bearman will take the wheel of a two-year-old car to perform some laps at the Spanish circuit.
In eight years in Formula 1, Haas has never run a TPC test, but the American squad’s resources have increased through 2024 as new sponsors, as well as a close technical collaboration with the highly successful Toyota Gazoo Racing outfit, came on board.
Toyota’s influence will be felt in the test, with Ritomo Miyata set to drive the VF-23 in the afternoon after Bearman climbs out.
On Thursday, Miyata will again drive in the afternoon, with former Alpine driver Esteban Ocon driving in the morning as he adjusts to life with the American squad.
Miyata is set to drive for ART in Formula 2 this season, and boasts an impressive track record with 2023 championship wins in Super GT in the GT500 class, as well as in Super Formula.
TPC allows F1 teams to take part in private tests, like this one, using cars designed and constructed to comply with the technical regulations of any of the three calendar years prior to the calendar year preceding the championship year.
For 2025, this means the youngest car that can be used is the 2023 machine, which is why Haas has turned to the VF-23.
New and test parts or sensors are not permitted for use in a TPC event, with the rules being that the car must be run using instrumentation and sensors fitted at one or more of the races from the season that the car was used.
Haas scored P7 in the F1 2024 Constructors’ standings, collecting 58 points, with the result now enough to secure the funding to spend as the sport’s leading teams do.
“Our target is to be on the budget cap next year,” team boss Ayao Komatsu confirmed to the media, including PlanetF1.com, at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
“That’s another thing. With Haas, we’ve never been on the budget cap, right? How can you be competitive? So if you’re serious about being competitive, you have got to be on the budget gap. So yes, that’s our target.”
Haas exceeded their initial season goal of P8 in the standings and narrowly missed out on going one better, with Alpine only seven points up the road in P6. Komatsu believes Haas’ reaction to that result is beneficial.
“I think it’s very, very good that we are disappointed not to get P6,” he said, “because as I said at the beginning of the season, our official target was P8, because, stating the obvious, to be P8 you need to beat two teams.
“I really was just thinking, ‘Who can we beat? What two teams we are going to beat, right?’ Coming from the disaster of last year, in the previous four years or something, we’ve only been finishing P9, P10, P8, right? So to get P8, it was a tough challenge.
“But I think we just showed this year, even though we are the smallest team by far, if we work as a team together, we can do this, which is something to be really proud of, I think, for everybody on the team.”
Read Next: How no-nonsense Ayao Komatsu has changed Haas for the better