Komatsu puts Haas on PU boot camp: “Energy is the game” as 2026 era dawns
Haas rolled out its VF-26 and, with it, a blunt message from team principal Ayao Komatsu: forget headline times, this winter is about mastering the power unit. With Formula 1 pivoting to a 50/50 split between internal combustion and electric power in 2026, Komatsu says the early months will reward the teams that treat energy management like an art form — and punish those that don’t.
“Before we even think about racing, we have to get on top of energy management,” Komatsu stressed in Haas’ pre-season brief. “That’s the huge one. We probably don’t yet grasp the full extent of the challenge because we don’t know what we don’t know.”
The calendar doesn’t leave much room for trial-and-error. A five-day, closed-door shakedown in Barcelona from January 26-30 gives each of the 11 squads just three days of running, followed by two open collective tests in Bahrain in mid-February. Add it up and there are nine track days max before Australia — and that’s to understand a chassis rulebook turned on its head by active aero, on top of power units that behave very differently to the outgoing V6 hybrid era.
Yes, the hardware is largely set. The power unit manufacturers are deep into homologation ahead of the new cycle, with sustainable fuel and that higher electrical contribution baked in. The true performance swing now sits in how you deploy what you’ve got — how much you harvest, when you spend it, how you keep state-of-charge healthy without strangling lap time or race pace. That’s where Haas is putting its chips.
“Between the Barcelona shakedown and the final Bahrain test, you’ll see very different cars as everyone iterates their aero,” Komatsu said. “On the PU side, though, the hardware is pretty much fixed. How we use it is the biggest thing. Everybody will be working flat-out on energy usage in Barcelona, and that learning has to come quickly.”
Technical director Andrea de Zordo doesn’t disagree, and he thinks 2026 flips the competitive balance — at least at first.
“The new regulations will change the balance between aero and energy management,” he explained. “Initially with the PU, there’s not necessarily more to gain, but there’s a lot more to lose if you don’t execute. Once teams, drivers and suppliers learn this ‘new way of racing’, performance on the energy side will converge. Then aero becomes the differentiator again. But early on, managing energy is critical.”
That word — execution — will define the opening flyaways. Expect engineers to obsess over delta targets on the battery, drivers to juggle lift points and mode switches, and strategy walls to recalculate on the fly. The “overtaking mode” headlines and active aero chatter will be loud, but underneath, the real lap time comes from keeping the hybrid system in its sweet spot.
Haas has already put the work in off-track. Esteban Ocon and rookie Ollie Bearman have been racking up miles in the simulator, tackling a growing matrix of energy scenarios.
“It’s early days,” Komatsu said. “We ran a sim before Christmas and another, more in-depth session this week. The question for everyone is what’s realistic for a driver to manage across a qualifying lap and over multiple laps in a race. How precisely can you control various things? That’s a lot of what we’ll be doing in Barcelona. We’re in the homework phase, prepping all these scenarios — and there are so many permutations.”
There’s also a dose of pragmatism in Haas’ approach. Komatsu’s not interested in sticking to a concept for pride’s sake. If the VF-26 needs a turn in philosophy once the field takes the covers off in testing, he wants the team nimble enough to pivot.
“For the first few races, rather than a sporting target, it’s a target for us,” he said. “Get on top of PU management, then aero development. If we have to change direction or look at different concepts, we’ve got to do that promptly. To implement quickly, you need clear communication and a team that works as one. We’ve been building that over the last couple of years — now it’ll be tested even more.”
None of this guarantees fireworks on a Saturday, but it does hint at how the early 2026 pecking order could shuffle. In recent seasons, with power units largely at parity, the fastest cars were the ones with the cleanest aero and most efficient drag-to-downforce trade. This time, the sharp end will be whoever can turn a complex energy puzzle into repeatable performance while the aero arms race ramps back up in the background.
Haas, for its part, sounds content with its initial aero work. But Komatsu is under no illusions. “With new regulations, the question is always: is our target good enough? Testing will show different concepts. If we’ve missed something, we need to get on it very quickly.”
So don’t read too much into lap charts in Barcelona or Bahrain. Listen instead for how often teams talk about “optimisation,” “harvesting,” and “deployment windows.” For Haas, that’s the story right now. Crack the code early, and the rest of the year gets a lot simpler. Fail, and you’ll be spending your Sundays watching cars sail past with a fuller battery.
