Author Archives: PressBox

Haas is bringing a major upgrade package to Monza as it tries to arrest a slide in the 2026 Formula 1 season, but team principal Ayao Komatsu said the team is not abandoning the VF-26 and shifting all attention to 2027. Komatsu said Haas needs to identify and solve the car’s fundamental problems, not move on too early, after rivals overtook the team’s unexpectedly strong early start and the gap to the front grew to about two seconds from Haas’ side. He said the smaller team had expected the sweeping regulation change to be difficult and that larger rivals were developing faster.

The Monza package is Haas’ first major update since Canada in May, after the team said it had introduced no significant upgrade for months and scored only two points since then. Haas had points in the first three races, including Oliver Bearman’s fifth place in China and Esteban Ocon’s ninth in Monaco, but has not scored since Ocon’s result in June. Komatsu said the Montreal upgrade helped in some areas but hurt drivability, and he said Haas needs to maximize practice and data gathering after a frustrating weekend in Zandvoort, where Bearman finished 12th and Ocon 15th.

Bearman said Haas has been overtaken and is now the 10th-best team, and he said new parts may not matter unless the VF-26 becomes consistent. He also said Haas has seen downforce discrepancies comparable to an upgrade’s worth of performance, though he still expects the team to beat Aston Martin at Monza and believes Haas can move up to ninth in the constructors’ standings. Komatsu and the drivers said the updates are aimed at getting the team back into the midfield fight, while Haas said it remains focused on finding more performance from the VF-26 in the second half of the season.

Argentina’s push to bring F1 back to Buenos Aires gained momentum as President Javier Milei met FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem at the opening of the 2026 FIA American Congress. Milei urged both F1 and the World Rally Championship to return, saying Argentina has “absolutely everything” needed to host top-level racing again. He pointed to the country’s motorsport legacy, including Juan Manuel Fangio’s four world titles, Argentina’s 20 Grands Prix at the Autódromo de Buenos Aires Oscar y Juan Gálvez, and the renewed attention around Franco Colapinto, who became the country’s first top-flight F1 driver since 2001 and drew large crowds in Buenos Aires in April 2026.

The bid is being supported by a major upgrade to the Buenos Aires circuit. The Autódromo Oscar y Juan Gálvez is undergoing a $150 million renovation that is reported to be 60% complete. The work includes a new pit building and a circuit extension designed to help accommodate more than 150,000 fans. Buenos Aires leader Jorge Macri said Argentina is investing heavily and wants F1 back, while Milei said his administration is creating the stability needed for venue upgrades and a place on the racing calendar.

Ben Sulayem said Argentina has the ambition, support, history and fan base to be considered, and said the FIA wants to build on that heritage. He also noted that F1’s 24-race calendar is full through at least 2028, with no available space until 2029 at the earliest. Any Argentine bid would still need a business plan, investment and a formal review, with FOM making the final decision on race locations and the FIA handling regulatory approval.

McLaren brought its H-wing rear wing to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix, debuting the rotating concept on both MCL40 cars as it looked for more speed on the circuit’s long straights. The low-drag device, McLaren’s version of a concept first seen on Ferrari’s car in pre-season running, was designed to switch between cornering and straight-line configurations. McLaren had previously tested a prototype in Austria and a revised version in Hungary, where it reported positive results after holding the original prototype back from the Austrian race because of technical concerns.

Technical director Neil Houldey said McLaren was also bringing a new low-drag rear wing specification and other aerodynamic tweaks, with the team planning to assess the options before finalizing its qualifying setup. Monza was the first planned race appearance for the H-wing in a low-drag, high-speed configuration.

McLaren also ran a tweaked livery at Monza and planned to use it again at the Spanish Grand Prix to promote its partnership with OKX. The team described the joint designs as a highlight of its season. Lando Norris arrived at Monza after back-to-back wins in Hungary and the Netherlands and was trying to win a third straight race, which would be the first such streak of his Formula 1 career.

Red Bull has confirmed a major engineering staffing change, with Tom McCullough set to join the team at the start of 2027 as head of racing, replacing Gianpiero Lambiase. Lambiase has been serving in a dual role as Max Verstappen’s race engineer and Red Bull’s head of racing since his promotion in October 2024, and he is due to move to McLaren by 2028 as chief racing officer after gardening leave. Red Bull had already ruled out Verstappen’s former performance engineer Tom Hart for the race engineer vacancy after Hart turned down a move to Williams.

McCullough is leaving Aston Martin at the end of 2026 after more than a decade with the team and its predecessor operations. He spent four seasons as chief race engineer before becoming performance director, then stepped away from senior trackside duties in early 2025 and focused on Aston Martin’s Performance Technologies division. Red Bull said it was delighted to bring him in and said he will add experience and expertise to the role.