Image by: Haas (via X)
Haas has long embraced special liveries for its “home” races, and for the 2025 United States GP at the Circuit of the Americas, they’ve gone all in. The team has unveiled a stars-and-stripes themed design that leans heavily into its American roots while maintaining its core red, white, and black identity.
In a social media teaser titled “Born in the USA. Built for COTA”, Haas dropped a 51-second video showing the VF-25 in its new look from multiple angles, overlaid with high-energy country-rock music. The design incorporates the U.S. flag’s stars and stripes motifs across key surfaces — the front wing, rear wing, sidepods, and engine cover.
This is not Haas’s first special livery in 2025. They’ve already rolled out unique designs at Japan (cherry blossoms) and Canada (a throwback to their 2016 look). Austin will be the third such celebration.
Read more about the special liveries unveiled by the United States GP F1 Teams in one of our other blogs.
Visual Highlights & Design Choices
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Flag Motifs: The stars and stripes are stylized, not literal — integrated into wing shapes, sidepod curves, and flowing lines rather than blocky overlays.
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Retained Identity: Rather than replace their usual palette, Haas preserves its red, black, and white base, layering the American accents on top. This keeps the car recognizably Haas even in its special guise.
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Engine Cover & Finish: The engine cover gets a gloss black finish with updated font styling for numbers, giving a sharper, more premium contrast to the stars and stripes motif.
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Symmetry & Flow: The visual design is meant to flow — the stripes wrap from front to rear, uniting the car’s surfaces. It’s more than decoration; it’s about coherence under motion.
What It Symbolizes & Why It Matters
1. Home Branding & National Pride
For Haas, the U.S. GP is among their most important races — effectively a home event. Running a special U.S.-centric livery reinforces their identity as America’s F1 team, and resonates more with local fans and media.
Even though they aren’t the only team with American ties, Haas leans into the role, especially with Cadillac entering F1 in 2026 (a challenge to the “American team” mantle).
2. Morale & Momentum
A livery change can psychologically lift a team, especially heading into a Sprint weekend with limited setup time. The Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu noted how, with FP1 being the only free practice for upgrades, the team must hit the ground running. Bearman says the momentum they’ve felt this season gives him confidence that the US GP could be strong.
3. Fan Engagement & Media Attention
Special liveries draw extra eyeballs — more press photos, more social media enthusiasm, and a stronger presence in paddock storytelling. In a crowded season, the stars-and-stripes Haas may dominate visual headlines in Austin.
Performance Matters More Than Paint
A livery is important, but Haas knows performance must follow. And they’re not just banking on looks — they’re also bringing a small upgrade package to Austin, even though the Sprint weekend means limited evaluation time (only FP1).
Komatsu emphasized the pressure: “We will only have FP1 to evaluate it, so it’s even more crucial that we hit the ground running.” Both Bearman and Ocon have echoed that sentiment, talking up their eagerness to perform under the new livery in front of American fans.
If the visual gives them a morale boost and the upgrade adds a few tenths, Haas might turn this weekend into a standout show in the midfield.
Final Thoughts
Haas’s 2025 U.S. GP livery is a bold celebration of identity, symbolism, and performance hope. It strikes a balance between patriotism and team continuity. Whether it becomes a design remembered decades from now depends less on how it looks in the paddock and more on what the VF-25 delivers underneath — but for a team that often sits in the midfield, these moments of flare are part of crafting a bigger narrative.
If Austin is kind and the upgrade works, the stars and stripes might not just decorate the car — they might help declare Haas’s presence in the headline mix, at least for one weekend.
