Hirakawa shunts Haas in Zandvoort TPC — but Mexico FP1 call-up still stands
Ryo Hirakawa’s run-up to Mexico didn’t exactly go to script. The Japanese driver put a Haas into the barriers during a Testing Previous Car (TPC) outing at Zandvoort on Monday, ending the team’s private day early just days before his next FP1 for the American squad.
Haas has been leaning into TPC for the first time this season — a notable step for a team that only joined the grid in 2016 — using older-spec machinery to give extra mileage to its drivers and engineers. Hirakawa was back at the wheel for his latest run when it went wrong coming out of Zandvoort’s Turn 8, Masterbocht. The rear snapped, he looped through a series of spins and skated across the grass toward Turn 9, nudging the barrier nose-first and then with the rear for good measure. The car was done for the day. No word of injury, and none suspected.
It’s a clumsy moment on the eve of a useful shop window. Haas has already confirmed Hirakawa for Friday’s FP1 at the Mexico City Grand Prix, where he’ll take over Oliver Bearman’s car for the opening hour — his third practice appearance of the year with the team. One whack at Zandvoort won’t change that plan.
The choice of Zandvoort for a TPC isn’t accidental: the Dutch track punishes laps that are even a touch ragged, especially once you’re committed through the fast, cambered sweep of Masterbocht. Get greedy on throttle there and the wind, the banking, and the old-car aero platform will make you pay. Monday did exactly that.
Mexico, of course, is a different beast. The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez sits so high above sea level that a maximum-downforce package behaves like a medium one, and cooling turns into a puzzle you have to solve lap by lap. Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu knows the drill and isn’t dressing it up.
“The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is a very unique track,” Komatsu said in the team’s preview. “It has the highest altitude that we face, it means a high-downforce package only produces low downforce, plus cooling is the biggest issue. Looking at the VF-25 with our high-downforce package, and if we do the basics, I see no reason we shouldn’t be going for points.”
Komatsu’s been consistent this season about process over headline grabs. He doubled down again: focus on execution, let the result land where it lands. That puts a clear job sheet in front of Hirakawa on Friday: tick off systems work early, complete the aero runs, and hand Bearman a car with a clean read on balance and cooling before the track really rubbers in.
Hirakawa’s cameo comes as Haas navigates the sharp end of a condensed midfield. With Esteban Ocon anchoring the race programme and Bearman bedding into his first full F1 campaign, the team’s weekend rhythm has become quietly efficient — get the laps in, keep the tyres in range, cash in when others wobble. Mexico rewards exactly that kind of discipline, because at 2,200 metres the usual assumptions about grip and drag go out the window.
TPC mileage won’t go to waste either. Even in an older car, drivers learn the team’s language and operating style, while engineers pick up small procedural wins that translate to the current package. The price on Monday was a bent front wing and a bruised set of endplates. The gain, if Friday runs clean, could be another tidy step in a season where Haas has steadily sharpened its edges.
As for Hirakawa, the brief is simple: keep it tidy, keep it useful. Zandvoort bit hard. Mexico doesn’t need to.
