Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu has revealed that the team will get its own Formula 1 simulator up-and-running mid-way through the 2026 season.
Competitive parity in F1 has not always been about trackside performance. The modern era of the sport has seen a sharp uptick in the importance of cutting-edge technology.
OEMs like Ferrari and Mercedes have a distinct advantage over its rivals given the depth of its resources back at the factory. Chief amongst these are simulation tools.
The Banbury-based team, however, has now competed for a decade in F1 – having to rely completely on Ferrari for its simulation and wind-tunnel requirements over and above being a customer outfit.
Komatsu has now revealed that its newest technical partnership with Toyota has meant it can have its own F1 simulator back at base as early as May of this year.
“I think the Banbury one is going to be up and running around May, June time,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“But they’ve [Toyota] got another one in Epsom. So we’re just doing our proof of concept model integration stuff in parallel with the Epsom one. So once we got the physical one installed in Banbury, we can just go.
“It should be immediately okay when it’s installed as we’re doing it in parallel.”
Komatsu also highlighted how its dependence on Ferrari’s simulator has hindered its progress in the past.
But with its own simulator now just months away from full-functionality, Haas can enter the latest era of the sport with more technical autonomy via Toyota.
“It’s very important, because we’ve got access to a Ferrari simulator in Maranello,” he explained. ” But of course, it’s not great, because most of the engineering teams are in the UK, and then the days are limited, and it’s in Italy, right? So logistically, it’s been pretty difficult.
“[In 2026], I think the simulator is going to be even more important so we can’t have that access straight away, but it’s going to be really, really key, and then it’s a milestone for the team to be able to do that.”
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