Haas F1 Boss: How the Smallest Team in F1 Plans to Shock in 2026 (E387)

I always say to people that failure doesn't define us. What defines us is how we get up from the other team together. If I'm totally honest, I was ready to quit in, Baku '23. I was very close to just walk. Very first instance, I didn't know it was Romain. And then the minute I re realized it was Romain, obviously, I'm thinking he cannot be alive. And he's my friend. You're listening to High Performance. Thanks to everyone who's already subscribed. If you've not, right now is the time because you'll get new episodes the moment they drop, and your support helps us bring more world class guests onto the show. Tap subscribe right now, and keep growing with High Performance. Ayo, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. So last season, you got your second best ever points finish with the Haas Formula one team. Rewind to the very first race of the season, and I bet you would never have imagined that you would finish so strongly. Yeah. Absolutely. That first race in Melbourne, as soon as the car started running in f b one, then when as soon as I realized how big the issue was, that was really sickening. You know, at that point, we are facing the season of potentially scoring zero point. You know? Because we are not just slowest. We are the slowest by, like, six tenths. We had a huge problem. So when did you first realize that the car wasn't what you thought? Lap two of f p one. Yeah. What are you thinking at that point? Yeah. No. So so, again, so f p one, you start running very fast lap. Okay. I looked at those high speed corners. Okay. We are very slow, but it's lap one. It's okay. Maybe your driver's just in sighting lap. Then you cool down the tires, and then you go again second lap. It should be not not your quickest lap, obviously, but should be not a huge amount off, miles and miles off. It's like you are going through wet patch. Right? Then I realized, okay. We got some serious problem. Then by the end of f p one, it was totally clear. We got some serious issue. Then the focus is okay between f p and f p two. What can we do to mitigate this issue to see if we is that something we can solve with the reasonably big change on the car setup? Then by the end of FP two, I had to know that something we can deal with the setup or not. Then by the end of f p two. So by the end of Friday, it was totally clear that is a serious fundamental fluidity. Everything on the Friday and nothing would make the car quicker, really? Yeah. I wouldn't say everything because you only got, like, a hour to do it or two hours to do it if you include …