Which F1 team are ‘least well equipped’ to develop their cars for the next three years

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The next three years is set to be busy for Formula 1 teams as they continue to develop their 2024 cars into 2025, while also look forward to the new regulation set in 2026.

Resources within F1 teams vary across the grid with the top four fastest, Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari having some of the best on the grid.

Aston Martin also has a new wind tunnel facility it recently opened up, while RB, Williams and Sauber are improving in a bid to get further up the grid.

Haas is one of the only teams on the grid that does not have a dedicated chassis and wind tunnel facility on the same site. Instead, the car build is outsourced to Italian chassis-makers Dallara, while the team also has a technical partnership with Ferrari which enables them to share resources within the regulations.

Even though the team has turned around its form having suffered from significant tyre wear problems in 2023, they still face an uphill struggle in the next few years according to journalist Edd Straw speaking on The Race podcast.

Haas faces big challenge in upcoming years

The real test over whether the latest updates for Haas have delivered as intended will be in the second half of 2024, as teams begin to converge more as they add performance.

Straw believes the American outfit faces a test to stay competitive with its current setup.

“The big challenge for this team really is 2026 because obviously right now they’ve got basically three cars in mind, the 24 car, the 25 car and the 26 car,” said Straw.

And I think they’re the team least well equipped in many ways to take on that challenge. Having said that, they’ve got all the Ferrari stuff that they’ll get for 2026 that they don’t have to worry about. So there’s an advantage potentially there for them.”

Haas fighting for best Constructors’ position since 2018

The highest finishing position in the Constructors’ Championship for Haas since they joined the grid in 2016 was fifth in the 2018 season, since then they have trailed either in 10th or 8th place.

The team looks on course to fight for seventh along with Williams and RB this season, but it will need both Kevin Magnussen – who is two super licence penalty points away from a race ban – and Nico Hulkenberg to score valuable points in the remaining races.

Hulkenberg was described by former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner as one of the most underrated on the grid, having shown signs of brilliance this year in the changing conditions.

Toyota is rumoured to be interested in a partnership with the American team, while Ferrari protege Oliver Bearman has also signed to be one of their main drivers for next season.