F1 team announce major change for United States Grand Prix

American-owned F1 team Haas have announced a major change for their home race this weekend at the United States Grand Prix.

The race around the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is always a big deal for Haas, even though there are now two more US-based F1 races on the calendar in Miami and Las Vegas.

Since joining the F1 grid back in 2016, Haas have often highlighted the US GP as a chance to showcase their progress, and team owner Gene Haas will be looking for a good performance from his outfit.

And the team have pulled out all the stops with their livery for the race weekend in Austin, with Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman set to be driving cars with an American flag-themed livery.

Haas have unveiled a new car design for the sprint race weekend, which merges its usual black and red livery with the dark blue colour scheme and stars and stripes of the flag of the USA.

The team have been showing off the design on their Instagram page, with team principal Ayao Komatsu explaining the significance of the race to Haas in an official statement.

"We’re very excited for the United States Grand Prix, COTA always feels like home," he said. "It’s a busy week with a lot of activities, but with the added fact that it’s a Sprint, you’re running off adrenaline the entire weekend.

"It was great to get back scoring points in Singapore with Ollie, and here in COTA we’re really looking to get both drivers into point scoring positions. We’re bringing a small upgrade package here, but since it’s a Sprint weekend, we will only have FP1 to evaluate it, so it’s even more crucial that we hit the ground running.

"We’re very much looking forward to the challenge!"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@haasf1team)

Haas chasing down top five?

Haas are currently ninth in the constructors' championship with 46 points from 18 grand prix weekends, but surprisingly, they are still developing their 2025 car.

With wholesale new regulations sweeping into the sport in 2026, most teams have now switched their attention to their 2026 car designs, but Komatsu revealed earlier this month that neither Ocon nor Bearman will be testing the 2026 car in the simulator until after the season finale at Abu Dhabi.

It's a move that he says is guided by necessity with Haas sharing a simulator with Ferrari, but also because of the fact that there are still positions up for grabs in the 2025 championship.

Each position is worth several million pounds in the constructors' championship, something that would be crucial to a small outfit like Haas, and they are currently only 26 points behind sixth-place Racing Bulls, and 52 points from a top-five finish.

British rookie Bearman gave his thoughts on what will be his first F1 race at COTA: "It feels like we’re building momentum each weekend, we know the car is fast, and with another update coming to the VF-25 in Austin I feel like this should be a strong weekend.

"This will be my first US Grand Prix as a MoneyGram Haas F1 team driver, so I know it’s going to be full on, but it’s so nice to soak in the atmosphere and passion from all the American fans. Sharing a mutual passion and love for this team and sport, COTA will be a highlight of this season for sure."

F1 HEADLINES: Horner in Ferrari 'talks' as no confidence vote given to team boss Vasseur

READ MORE: Iconic Formula 1 star puts NIGHTMARE £3.5m Ferrari F1 car up for sale

READ MORE: Ferrari supremo issues powerful statement and it's great news for Lewis Hamilton

Related