Just over a month is left for the 2024 season to commence, and Haas has shockingly announced that they will be parting ways with Guenther Steiner. The Italian-American led the side ever since they debuted back in 2016. However, following his departure, he will now be replaced by Ayao Komatsu.
Until being appointed as the new team principal, Komatsu served Haas as their Director of Engineering. The Japanese engineer joined the American outfit back in 2016 as the team’s head of trackside operations.
Komatsu’s promotion follows the trend set by McLaren relying more on their entrusted engineers. The Woking-based outfit did the same with Andrea Stella in 2023 when Andreas Seidl quit. Coincidentally, Stella too served his team as their head of trackside operations in the past.
Before joining Haas, Komatsu was the race engineer of both Romain Grosjean and Vitaly Petrov at Renault. His stint with the French team lasted for a decade, and at a point, he was promoted to Chief Race Engineer. He stayed with the team even during the transition to Lotus but switched to Haas when Grosjean decided to move.
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Komatsu’s roots in F1 trace back to 2003 when he joined BAR, the team that later rebranded itself to Mercedes. In 2006, he then moved to Renault, where he started out with a focus on tires. Once the championship decided to go with a single supplier, he shifted focus to multiple other disciplines.
The turmoil Ayao Komatsu is inheriting from Guenther Steiner
Haas began the 2023 season on a terrible note. The lack of understanding of the concept was clear in the philosophy the car was built on. Many teams started the year on a similar note but managed to find their feet as the season progressed. The same could not be said about Haas.
The team was already drawing much flak after sacking Mick Schumacher. Furthermore, an underperforming car did not do them any favors. They brought in a seasoned campaigner, Nico Hulkenberg, to pair with Kevin Magnussen and the move turned out to be a sound decision.
The duo, however, could not do much to turn the fortunes of an unstable and underpowered VF-23. One of their main rivals, Williams, had their own problems but the Grove-based outfit managed to find pace on the straights.
Hence, unsurprisingly the Williams team overtook Haas in the standings and finished P7. AlphaTauri, another team that had various struggles of their own throughout the year, managed to finish P8 in the championship. The only other team that found itself in the same boat as Haas was Alfa Romeo.
The two finished at the bottom of the championship with the American squad filling the lowest berth. Therefore, Komatsu has quite the storm to manage in the upcoming 2024 season. The only silver lining for him is a tried and tested driver lineup that can help them develop the car with the help of their vast experience.
