Haas will introduce a variation on its usual livery to mark the start of cherry blossom season at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

The American team has added pink cherry blossom graphics to its VF-25s for the upcoming round at Suzuka.

The Japanese Grand Prix moved to a spring date for the first time last year. The event now coincides with ‘sakura’ – the cherry blossom season. Many trees around the track were in bloom during last year’s race.

Haas has strengthened its ties to Japan since Ayao Komatsu took over as team principal at the beginning of last year. The team signed a technical collaboration deal with Toyota last season.

As part of the Toyota deal, the Japanese manufacturer’s junior drivers have opportunities to test for the team. Ryo Hirakawa drove for them in post-season testing at the end of last year, though he has since joined Alpine as one of its reserve drivers.

The team heads into this weekend’s race after scoring the second-best result in its history in the previous round at Shanghai. Esteban Ocon finished fifth and Oliver Bearman eighth following a spate of post-race disqualifications. The team is sixth in the championship at this early stage in the season.

However Komatsu admitted he has some concerns over the team’s performance this weekend. The season-opening round in Melbourne indicated the VF-25 is not competitive in high-speed corners of the type which dominate Suzuka’s layout.

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“Even though we raced competitively in Shanghai, we know that we still carry a fundamental car issue that was exposed in Melbourne,” he said. “We’re going into this weekend with our eyes wide open to tackle any challenges we might face and aim to get the best out of the VF-25 and our drivers.”

Haas is unlikely to be the only team to run a special livery for this weekend’s race. Red Bull is expected to reveal a special tribute livery for Honda similar to the one it raced at the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix. McLaren was the only team to produce a special livery for this race last year.

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