Haas has significantly altered the timeline and future in F1, becoming the leaders of the paddock to enhance opportunity in motorsport.
The American team have made massive changes internally ahead of the 2025 season, creating a path for progression made possible for future generations.
“Our technical team – the factory-based technical team – has been really stable,” said Team Principal Ayao Komatsu to motorsport.com.
How are Haas leading the paddock towards the future?
The team’s changes are brought to life with their choice to promote Laura Müller to Race Engineer for Esteban Ocon and Ronan O’Hare to Race Engineer for Oliver Bearman.
Both team personnel were previously performance engineers for the US-owned team, providing a strong pipeline for growth in a team environment.
“If you look at how many female engineers we have in the office, it’s definitely more than before,” Komatsu told select media.
“But it’s not like I chose Laura because she’s female. We don’t care about nationality, gender – it really doesn’t matter. Because what matters is work.”
Müller is the first female race engineer in 75-years, making Haas the first team to lead the paddock in this new accessible era.
The powerhouse female employee has worked with Haas F1 team since joining as their Simulator Engineer, whilst O’Hare was previously Performance Engineer for a handful of other racing teams providing useful experience.
What are the further changes for Haas?
Mark Slade and Gary Gannon have both left the team. They engineered Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg in 2024.
An honest Ayao Komatsu explained he felt the trackside group was a weakness in the previous campaign. It’s led to wholesale changes.
“What’s been changed is the trackside team.
“It’s a huge change, but I felt that was one of the weakest areas last year. The more and more the car became competitive, that exposed it more,” continued Komatsu.
Another crucial change to the team, enhancing the faith in both new Race Engineers, is the freshly announced Francesco Nenci as Chief Race Engineer.
Nenci’s position will further guide the team with further valuable experience, creating way for the team to reach peak performance and success.
Haas have a progression plan, room to grow
“So, we decided to promote internally, because that sends a good message for everyone as well – rather than going for some big names of experience from outside (of the team),” Komatsu added.
The team seem in great spirits, confident in their changes and the positivity that will be embedded as a result.
Bigger changes enhance the level of the team’s situational awareness heading into the new season with Head of Strategy confirmed as Carine Cridelich, who will join the USA team in March from RB, and the return of Mark Lowe as Sporting Director.
All these changes remain exciting, pin-pointing the fact all eyes will be on the team as they prepare to chase success down pitlane.
The 2025 car will be tested on the 16th of February for the first time at Silverstone, with the Technical Team designing what should be a performing vehicle on the basis of 2024.
Haas F1 had the fifth-fastest car on the grid towards the end of the season, meaning their progression is in the right place, but they need the right people to pull it together.
“I’d like to continue that level of consistency. But I only expect competition to be tighter this year, Alpine, Williams, Sauber and RB – they are all going to be better as well.”
