Haas has been one of the most unbalanced teams in Formula 1. The North American team entered the top category of motorsport in the 2016 season, with Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez as its starting drivers. Since that time, Haas has had a total of 166 Grand Prix entries, as well as having achieved 2 fastest laps, 1 pole position, 2x P4 and a total of 249 points to date.
For many years, Haas was known for its small budget compared to most other teams. Although it has been helped by its engine supplier, Ferrari, Haas has remained at the bottom of the constructors’ championship for a long time. With some very good results, such as good qualifying sessions by Kevin Magnussen or Romain Grosjean, one of the main problems that have arisen in this team is retirements. Gene Haas’ team has had a total of 64 retirements throughout its stay in the category, while on average they usually have about 8 retirements per season. An extremely high amount.
As in all sports and organizations, there are times where it is decided to go through a period of internal restructuring. Senior directing figures are fired or resign, ushering in a new era in terms of team management.
Today it was announced that two of the key people within Haas have left the team. The first of them is the former Technical Director, Simone Resta, while surprisingly the other is former Team Principal, Guenther Steiner.
Photo Credit: Haas F1 Team
Steiner had come to Haas proposing the idea of a new Formula 1 team with the help of technology from Ferrari, working simultaneously with the Italian team. Steiner obtained financing from American businessman, Gene Haas, who already had experience in the North American stock car category, Nascar. The Italian’s contract expired in 2023, and it was Gene Haas’ decision not to take the renewal option, this after a very bad 2023 season in Formula 1.
Haas finished in last position in the constructors’ championship with a total of 12 points and 4 points behind ninth place. Although they had two drivers with good experience in the category, such as Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, the duo was unable to get the most out of their car.
On one side, it is said that Steiner wanted a larger investment from the owners in order to improve the infrastructure in their facilities, since they did not compare to those of their rivals, while on the other side of the coin, Gene Haas had the mentality of taking advantage and being more effective and efficient with the resources that the team already had.
In the same way, the departure of the team’s technical director, Simone Resta is heavily rumored. With the unveiling of the new cars just around the corner, this was undoubtedly one of the most disturbing news, since the technical director is probably the most important roles at this stage of car development. According to Motorsport Italy, Resta had discussed the future of the team with Gene Haas, but disappointed with the answers received, the Italian decided to leave the North American team.
Gene Haas released the following statement expressing his gratitude to Guenther Steiner, who served as the head of the team from 2016 until today, as well as announcing that Ayao Komatsu, who served as Chief Race Engineer initially and was progressively promoted to Director of Engineering, will be the new Haas team principal.
“I’d like to start by extending my thanks to Guenther Steiner for all his hard work over the past decade and I wish him well for the future.”
“Moving forward as an organization, it was clear we need to improve our on-track performances. In appointing Ayao Komatsu as Team Principal we fundamentally have engineering at the heart of our management,” Gene Haas stated. “We have had some successes, but we need to be consistent in delivering results that help us reach our wider goals as an organization. We need to be efficient with the resources we have but improving our design and engineering capability is key to our success as a team.”
“I’m looking forward to working with Ayao and fundamentally ensuring that we maximize our potential – this truly reflects my desire to compete properly in Formula 1.”
Photo Credit: Haas F1 Team
For his part, Ayao stated that this new chapter in his professional career is very exciting and affirmed he has the support of the team owner and their partners.
“I’m naturally very excited to have the opportunity to be Team Principal at Haas. Having been with the team since its track-debut back in 2016 I’m obviously passionately invested in its success in Formula 1. I’m looking forward to leading our program and the various competitive operations internally to ensure we can build a structure that produces improved on-track performances.”
“We have amazing support from Gene and our various partners – particularly MoneyGram, and we want to mirror their enthusiasm with an improved on-track product. We have a great team of people across Kannapolis, Banbury and Maranello and together I know we can reach the kind of performances we’re capable of.” Komatsu stated.
