F1 | Plot twist: Steiner leaves Haas, promoted to Komatsu

Gunther Steiner leaves Haas and will be replaced by Ayao Komatsu. The news follows by a few hours that of technical director Simone Resta's farewell to the team, but there is no doubt that the team principal's exit from the US team comes as an even greater surprise.

The figure of Steiner was at the basis of the Haas F1 project, he was responsible for the idea of ​​the project based on a strong partnership with Ferrari which allowed us to be on the track in 2016 with a decidedly limited financial investment compared to a team independent.

For eight seasons Steiner held the role of team principal, becoming the team's point person. The 58-year-old South Tyrolean is also responsible for the team's survival in the difficult 2020, a year in which the team was very close to closing due to the financial difficulties linked to the Covid period.

Once the crisis was over, Haas returned to being a solid reality, managing to return to the drivers' market without the limit of having to finance itself through the drivers. The best season of the Steiner era remains 2018, the championship ended in fifth place in the constructors' standings with 93 points.

Seven weeks away from the tests that will kick off the 2024 season, Haas finds itself dealing with a very important change at the top. Ayao Komatsu, a forty-seven year old Japanese engineer, began his motorsport career in 2003 as a specialist tire management technician for British American Racing, and remained with the Brackley team for two seasons. In 2006 he moved to Renault in the role of performance engineer with Nelson Piquet Jr., Romain Grosjean and Vitaly Petrov.

After Grosjean's promotion to the role of track engineer from 2012 to 2015, Komatsu followed the French driver into his new adventure at Haas as performance manager and track engineering coordinator.

His promotion to the role of team principal continues a trend already seen in recent years with Andrea Stella and James Vowles, engineers who moved to their current role after a long stint on the track with technical roles.