Ayao Komatsu says it was known to him that Haas will not be able to hit the budget cap in F1 2026, even though it managed to achieve it in 2025.
After the budget cap was introduced back in 2021, Haas finally achieved the threshold of $135 million in 2025, but immediately knew that it won’t be possible in the next cycle starting in 2026. With host of changes in the regulations from chassis to power unit, the cap was raised by the FIA.
Komatsu already knew budget cap impossible for Haas F1 in 2026
It sits at $215 million but there are changes made from the previous cycle, with some inclusion and also exclusion. The step of $80 million is a steep increase, something that a privateer F1 team like Haas cannot achieve from the onset, even with the sponsor influx.
“Yeah, I knew it was impossible,” said Haas F1 team principalKomatsu, when asked about hitting this year’s budget. “We hit the budget cap last year. That was the first time we actually hit the budget cap. By the way, then we were profitable last year as well.”
Having started out the budget cap in 2021 season, it took Haas five years to finally hit the mark, something that a manufacturer can hit in the first go. The bigger win for the American F1 outfit was becoming profitable. It is very hard for any team on the grid to do so.
No budget cap would be much worse for Haas
Despite not hitting the target this year, Komatsu is not advocating against it at all. He feels that if there was no budget cap, Haas would have struggled massively against the likes of Ferrari, Red Bull and even Mercedes, McLaren. The Japanese hopes that they can achieve the cap target in 2027.
While Gene Haas can put his money to pump up, but it is natural that they are looking for bigger sponsors who will help in achieving the target better, without using own pockets. “You asked about budget cap, if there’s no budget cap, it’d be even worse, much, much worse, right?
“People like Ferrari, Red Bull, those guys would be spending lot, lot more. So budget cap definitely helps. It’s just that it’s our problem that we’re not hitting the budget cap, but our full intention to hit it as much as possible next year,” said Komatsu.