Haas has completed a three-day Testing of Previous Cars session at Portimao as pressure mounts on the team to finalise its 2027 Formula 1 driver line-up.
The American outfit ran reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa, 2025 Formula 2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli and current F2 title contender Rafael Camara across three days at the Portuguese circuit from 26-28 August.
All three drivers completed laps in the VF-25, Haas’ 2025 Formula 1 car, giving the team a broad pool of candidates to evaluate ahead of a crucial selection decision.
Fornaroli is a McLaren development driver, while Camara races as a Ferrari junior, adding significant intrigue to Haas running both men in the same test window.
The Portimao session follows a similar TPC test last month, when Toyota-backed drivers Sho Tsuboi and Nirei Fukuzumi were given runs at Fuji Speedway.
While Oliver Bearman appears set to retain his seat for 2027, the future of Esteban Ocon alongside him remains the central question surrounding the team’s driver planning.
Haas has made no secret of its intention to assess all available options before committing to a final pairing, with the team openly welcoming interest from drivers outside its current roster.
Team principal Ayao Komatsu acknowledged the outside interest ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, framing it as a positive reflection of confidence in the team’s direction.
“I think it’s really good that other people are actually interested in us,” Komatsu said. “At the moment, we’re not performing so well. We cannot challenge for points, but I think it’s nice that other people can see the potential in us. We just take it as a compliment that other drivers are interested.”
Komatsu has been clear that the immediate priority remains extracting the maximum from the current car and the current driver pairing throughout this season.
“We’re not in any rush,” Komatsu said at Zandvoort. “We’re focused on our two drivers, Ollie and Esteban, trying to get the best out of them. They’ve got the tough challenge, right?”
Komatsu pointed to both Bearman and Ocon’s demonstrated ability as reasons to keep the team’s attention firmly on performance in the near term rather than future planning.
“Ollie has showed it repeatedly, Esteban, when he is happy with the car, you know what he can do,” Komatsu added. “So we need to really just focus on providing them with the best possible car, best set-up adaptation, and get the best out of them.”
Haas has historically been among the last teams on the grid to confirm its driver line-up for the following season, making a delayed announcement entirely consistent with the team’s past approach.
With driver markets across much of the rest of the grid already stabilising for 2027, Haas faces no particular urgency to rush a decision, though the volume of TPC activity suggests internal evaluations are well underway.