Haas F1 team suffer awkward slip-up during car launch

Credit for photo: TGR Haas F1 Team — Photo: © IMAGO

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Haas F1 team suffer awkward slip-up during car launch

Haas recently unveiled their machinery

By Sam Cook.

Friday 23 January 2026 23:00

Haas F1 Team endured an awkward but amusing moment during their 2026 car launch, after a small mistake quickly caught the attention of fans online.

The U.S.-based outfit became the third team to unveil its 2026 challenger, following Red Bull and Racing Bulls at a joint launch event held in Detroit last week.

With sweeping regulation changes set to reshape Formula 1 in 2026, fans are eagerly dissecting every detail of the new cars, unsure how the shake-up will affect the competitive order across the grid.

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It presents an opportunity for smaller teams like Haas to make a jump on some of their rivals, and their talented driver duo of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman will be hoping to challenge for top-six finishes in 2026.

There are now 11 teams on the grid, however, potentially making it harder for the likes of Haas to score points regularly, with Cadillac becoming the first new team to join the F1 grid since Haas did themselves back in 2016.

However, the team suffered an unfortunate mishap which was quickly picked up upon by fans on social media.

The renderings of the new VF-26 were released with mounted tyres on the front that were exactly the same size as the rear tyres.

Of course, actual F1 cars have larger tyres on the rear than they do on the front, with this year's difference being about 10 centimetres.

It was this mistake on the renderings that made Haas' car look a lot bigger than most of their rivals' car designs that have been released in the last few days, despite the fact that the cars are meant to look a fair bit smaller this year.

2026's new aerodynamic regulations

In short, the new F1 cars are set to be shorter, narrower and more agile, but you might not notice too much difference when looking at them on track.

Cars will be lighter by 30kg in 2026, the wheelbase will be reduced by 20cm and the car width will be reduced by 10cm.

The maximum floor width has also been reduced by 15cm, while the width of the front tyres have been decreased by 2.5cm and the rears by 3cm.

F1 front wings are 10cm narrower than in 2025 and will feature a two element active flap. The rear wing will then have a three element flap and the lower beam wing has been removed.

The removal of this is key, to ensure that a following car will encounter less turbulence or 'dirty air', a major impediment to overtaking during the 2025 season.

Then there is the 'active aerodynamics', which involve a straight mode and a corner mode.

Straight mode is when the front and rear wing flaps open to reduce overall drag and increases top speed, which will be made available to all drivers.

Corner mode takes place at the corners, where the front and rear wing flaps close which increases downforce and therefore cornering speeds.

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