F1 | Haas: “Tired of being humiliated on the track, we had to change”

After the exit of the technical director, Simone Resta, anticipated by Motorsport.com, on Wednesday Haas also ended the collaboration with Team Principal Gunther Steiner, who had led the team after contributing to its birth in 2016.

His figure was in fact central in the creation of the team and in the idea of ​​the project based on the collaboration with Ferrari, which from the first year of activity allowed it to be on the track with a reduced investment compared to other mid-table companies. However, after eight years at the helm of the team, Haas has decided to change direction and has formalized the handover between the South Tyrolean and Ayao Komatsu, the new Team Principal promoted from his previous role.

Going into the reasons that led to the decision not to renew Steiner's contract, team owner Gene Haas expressed his disappointment with the results of recent years.

“It was a question of performance. We are in the eighth year, with over 160 races, and we have never had a podium. In the last two years we have finished tenth or ninth. I'm not saying it's Gunther's fault or anything like that, but it seems like this is the right time to change and try a different direction, because it doesn't seem like continuing with what we had is going to work,” explained Gene Haas in an interview with the Formula 1 website.

After a 2018 which ended with an excellent fifth place in the standings, achieved thanks to a high-level technical package, the first difficulties became apparent in 2019, thanks to a car capable of good exploits, but also of extremely disappointing weekends. Even more complex were 2020 and 2021, given the impact of the pandemic and the resulting financial problems that put the team's survival at risk.

Having overcome the moment of crisis, Haas has returned to being a solid reality, also thanks to a car that at the beginning of 2022 actually seemed to be able to have its say in the mid-group challenge. However, the few updates brought during the season did not allow the same competitiveness to be maintained throughout the entire world championship, beyond Kevin Magnussen's unexpected and beautiful pole under the Brazilian clouds.

However, the results obtained that year allowed it to attract new partners, including a new main sponsor, which in turn allowed the American team to reach the budget cap limit and be active on the drivers' market. However, this was not reflected on the track, because 2023 was a year lacking in satisfaction, despite some good results achieved thanks to the newly arrived Nico Hulkenberg.

Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images

Kevin Magnussen leading the package with sloping bellies that debuted in the final part of the season

Difficulties on the track which also recurred in the factory. During development, the engineers understood that the old concept did not guarantee significant improvements in the medium term, which is why few updates arrived during the championship. For this reason, it was decided to change direction, following Red Bull dictates, although the VF-23 still presented constraints for which there would only be a solution on the 2024 car, as in the case of Ferrari itself. It is no coincidence that Nico Hulkenberg chose to go back to the old package, which in his opinion guaranteed greater aerodynamic load, while Kevin Magnussen remained with the latest innovations because they were better suited to his driving style.

The problems encountered in a disappointing 2023 then led Haas to finish at the bottom of the table, in tenth place, fueling the divergence of views on how to bring the team back up, which still needs major investments to face growing competition. AlphaTauri (in the future Racing Bulls) will be able to count on an increasingly close collaboration with Red Bull, while Sauber is investing in anticipation of Audi's arrival.

“We are in our eighth year, with over 160 races, and we have never achieved a podium. In the last two years we have finished tenth or ninth.”

“It's true, I like Guenther, he's a really nice person, a really good personality. We had a difficult end to the year. I don't understand him, I really don't understand him. These are the right questions to ask Gunther, what went crooked. At the end of the day, it's about performance. I don't care about being 10th anymore,” the team owner added.

Following a new technical direction, Haas hopes to return to a mid-table position in 2024. At the helm of the team will be Ayao Komatsu, who knows the team well having been one of its pillars since its debut in 2016 thanks to a long experience in Formula 1. Over the years the Japanese was then able to rise through the ranks, until he became director of engineering of the Kannapolis team.

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Gene Haas, owner and founder of the Haas F1 team

“We looked within the team for those who had the most experience. Ayao has been with the team since day one, he knows all the details. My biggest concern is that when we go to Bahrain, we will have to show up with a ready car. We will have a more managerial and engineering approach, we will see if it will bring benefits”, added Haas explaining the reasons that led to the promotion of Komatsu.

“I think Gunther had a more human approach to people and the way he interacted with them, he was very good at that. Ayao is very technical, he analyzes things based on statistics: this is what we are doing wrong, where we can improve. It's a different approach.”

“We really need something different because we weren't doing very well. Like I said, it all comes down to eight years of being in last place,” Haas added.

When asked why the team did not look for an external figure to lead the team, given the feeling that a change of pace was needed, Gene Haas underlined that his concern was to present himself at the starting line of the new season with someone who knew the team well, thus not requiring an adaptation period.

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Ayao Komatsu will be the new Team Principal after being promoted

“I've been leading Haas Automation for over 40 years. Bringing in people from outside takes time to learn, six months to a year, and often you don't even like them. It's better to take people you know, and even if they're not perfect , at least you know what you're going to get. This has worked very well for us here at Haas Automation, so I'm applying many of the elements to the Formula 1 team.”

“I really like having people that I know, who understand the day-to-day operations, who understand people, rather than having an outsider come in who will mix everything up and create confusion.”

Great attention was also paid to the relationship with Ferrari, which currently supplies not only the Power Unit and gearbox, but also suspensions and other elements, essentially everything that the regulation allows, in order to reduce design costs.

“Ferrari have been very good to us. They've been with us since day one, they build incredible engines. Their suspension is extremely good. We've used a lot of their components. It works really well. They really help us. I'm ashamed that I'm not I was able to do better, but in the future I want to take advantage of good equipment that many other teams don't have.”

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Haas has a deep collaboration with Ferrari, which supplies the gearbox, Power Unit and other mechanical elements, as permitted by the regulations

“We are very happy to stay with Ferrari. I hope we can help them in terms of reliability. In the future, when Sauber abandons PU Ferrari [diventerà team ufficiale Audi], we will be the only user of Ferrari. They may want to have a client or two. Maybe they'll be happy to have just us. But we have to do better. We can't be that far behind Ferrari. We need to be closer to them.”

Although there are clearly many points in common with the guidelines set by the Cavallino staff, Gene Haas believes that it is precisely the aerodynamic plan on which the team must make the most tangible progress. In general, by sharing both the hardware and part of the engineers at the Maranello headquarters, the American team often came close to Ferrari's solutions, but in some cases it was also able to innovate with ideas that were then taken up by the rest of the team. grid, especially in the previous generation of single-seaters.

“I think we have a fantastic formula here. We have Ferrari engines that probably have more power than anyone else right now. We have Ferrari hardware [come da regolamento], we have a good chassis. I talk to a lot of engineers and I think our biggest flaw is aerodynamics; our aerodynamics program needs improvement. When you're at the track and you get humiliated every weekend, I can't accept it anymore.”