When Guenther Steiner was the lead figure at Haas, he had one major complaint with the team’s owner — the lack of investment. The Italian-American engineer never had money per his liking and often blamed it as the reason behind Haas’ slow development. Currently working with a similar investment, Ayao Komatsu took a shot at his predecessor, claiming it to be a matter of how one spends the money in hand.
Per the new Haas team principal, there was no need to spend any extra money than the team already had. With two major upgrade packages already delivered, Komatsu revealed they produced all parts within their planned budget. Thus, he feels it is all about how one spends the money they have when working towards a goal.
#AMuS – Günther Steiner always complained that it was difficult to convince Gene Haas to spend money on the development and production of new parts. But they have already released two major upgrade packages.
Ayao Komatsu: There was no need to spend any extra money.
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— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) August 7, 2024
“We had the exact same budget last year. It’s all about how you use that money and how you get people working towards a common goal.”, said Komatsu.
Under Komatsu, Haas has been enjoying a good run for form, both on and off the track. With 27 points so far, the Kannapolis-based team is currently P7 in the constructors’ championship, which is already more than double the points they had last year (12).
They have also secured the services of junior Ferrari driver Oliver Bearman, who had an impressive first race in F1 last year. However, none of the progress matters to the man who helped get the team up and running.
Steiner doesn’t care for the forward momentum of Haas
Speaking to Autoweek about Haas’ performance in 2024, Steiner claimed that the current car was born under his “regime.” Crediting Simone Resta for coming up with the concept, the 59-year-old revealed that the current Haas car only needed to be put together this year, and all work on it was complete in 2023.
Günther Steiner doesn’t care if people call Haas the ‘white Ferrari’ pic.twitter.com/8wJxvxGP1t
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) April 19, 2022
Taking about the departure of Resta following his own, Steiner said that he also thought that Haas were nearing a dead end. Not wanting to be part of a team that did not want to change its ways, both Steiner and Resta went down separate roads.
And now that Haas is showing progress, Steiner feels he doesn’t know whether they can continue making progress. But he doesn’t care about it either.
