The name above the Haas Formula 1 team door remains unchanged. But, heading into the 2024 Formula 1 season, there has been a major change of leadership.
Ginder Steiner, the founding team leader of the only American Formula 1 team, has left. In his place, Haas has promoted Ayao Komatsu, who was the team’s engineering director. Like Steiner, Komatsu had worked with Haas since joining Formula 1 in 2016. But it was his boss who had a high profile among Formula 1 fans due to Steiner’s popularity in the Netflix series Drive to Survive .
Steiner’s contract was set to expire at the end of the year, but his position did not appear to be externally threatened.
Gene Haas, the team owner, then informed Steiner after Christmas that he would not be offered a new contract, after which Haas moved Komatsu to the top spot.
Haas said in an interview published in January on Formula 1’s website that his decision “came down to performance” after the team finished last in the constructors’ championship and eighth the previous year. In its eight seasons in Formula 1, the team has never won a race and its best result was a fourth-place finish in Austria in 2018.
But there was also a disagreement between Steiner and Haas about what investments were needed to improve results.
Haas said he “can’t understand how we can be [last] with all the equipment and people we have.” Steiner, however, wanted Haas to invest more money to upgrade the team’s production facilities.
That’s something many F1 teams have been doing since the sport introduced its new financial rules in 2021, which limit how much teams can spend. In 2024, it will be $135 million.
Other teams can save money to improve their equipment and production processes. But the Haas team’s model of buying as many car parts as possible from its supplier, Ferrari, meant that its spending was largely locked in.
“You’re on the outside, you look in and you’re like, ‘Wow, I’ve been pushing for a long time, seeing where the other guys are going,'” Steiner said in a mid-January interview in Birmingham, England, about the team’s change in model. .
“You just have to be very efficient now. You have to put in the money, setting everything up so that you have a very lean machine. Our model may no longer be the most efficient. Well, not our model, their model, because I’m not there anymore.”
Gene Haas said he chose Komatsu to succeed Steiner because Komatsu has been “with the team since day one, he knows the ins and outs.”
Haas didn’t want an outsider to spend time learning the team’s methods. The team is also in the process of hiring a chief operating officer to assist its new team manager.
Komatsu also provides the Haas team with significant skills. Komatsu’s recent position means the team now has an engineer as team boss. This follows a trend at other F1 teams, including McLaren and Aston Martin, who have performed well.
The rationale behind this is to have leaders who understand what resources are needed to make cars faster because of their engineering experience.
Komatsu also shares Gene Haas’ belief that the team can succeed with the facilities and investments it already has.
“I think with what we have, we can do a better job, for sure,” Komatsu told reporters in late January at the Haas factory in Banbury, England, although he also said he expected the team to continue to compete this year. . “And if we put it together, I’m sure we can do a lot better. Then, once we get to the stage where we maximize what we got [race results]we are an efficient racing team.”
Kevin Magnussen, one of the team’s drivers, has worked with Komatsu for six seasons. Magnussen said Steiner’s replacement was a “big change”.
“It will change the dynamic and the communication throughout the organization,” Magnussen said in an interview posted Feb. 20 on the Haas team website.
This will also be evident to those looking at Haas from the outside. Komatsu has vowed not to seek the same profile as his former boss, who had many fans for his outspoken style.
“I’m not trying to be Ginder Steiner,” Komatsu said. “He is a very different person. It has very different strengths and weaknesses for me. Gene knows this, and if Gene wanted Steiner replaced that way, he would have appointed someone else.
“I’m going to try to be the best version of myself instead of trying to be someone else.”
Gene Haas’s explanation for the leadership change at his Formula 1 team has increased the pressure. The 71-year-old commits to his team to “survive for the next 10 years”. He said he was not interested in selling, as he almost did in 2020 before new financial rule changes led to a change of heart.
But the team has a big challenge in the 2024 Formula 1 season. Its new car is not expected to be significantly better than its predecessor.
This racing car had a problem with its aerodynamic design and destroyed its tires during the races. Magnussen and teammate Nico Hülkenberg often dropped back from their starting positions. Correcting this problem was a process Haas began in late 2023 with a major redesign of its car.
Komatsu is setting low expectations for the new season given the time it can take to resolve major car issues with the long production times required to build new F1 parts. He doesn’t expect much improvement for 2024.
“Out of the gates,” he said, “I still think we’ll be at the back of the grid, if not last.”
