Haas boss Ayao Komatsu says owner Gene Haas is prepared to allocate further funds towards the Formula 1 squad as long as it is used in a responsible manner.
Komatsu has assured that Haas told him since his appointment as Team Principal on the eve of the current season that he is willing to provide an injection of cash.
Nonetheless, he also asked for a responsible use to avoid unnecessary waste and Komatsu admits he feels accountable for achieving sustainable usage of the money.
“I got appointed officially on 10 January, right? Gene’s message from day one was absolutely clear: he said he’s got money, he is ready to invest it,” the Japanese said. “But we’ve got to show him we can use the money responsibly, efficiently,” Komatsu told Autosport.
“He doesn’t want to see the waste. There’s a reason he’s a billionaire, right? He doesn’t like to waste money, right?
“So when I looked at it, then there’s so many areas we can improve. So that’s why I wasn’t too worried about his initial message: ‘Come on, you guys need to show me you are using my money responsibly, then get to a certain position, then I think about the investment’.
Komatsu explained that the new recruits and the commissioning of a new motorhome to improve the team’s infrastructure shows that Haas is ready to invest when needed.
“But I know for a fact that he’ll really invest when we get to that stage [a responsible usage of the money]. And already he’s commissioned a new motorhome for next year, which is not a small investment. So we are doing that,” said Komatsu.
“And also we are now recruiting reasonably – from our size of people, a decent chunk of new recruitments is approved. So yes, Gene is now actioning what he told me. So I’m not worried that he’s not going to invest. He will invest. But we got to do our part, which is to use his money responsibly.”
Komatsu also clarified that the agreement over constructing a new motorhome was in place prior to the Kannapolis-based squad’s positive start to the 2024 season.
While Haas must wait until the end of the season to see new hires arrive, Komatsu has guaranteed that the American outfit will not waste the period in the meantime.
Haas has delivered some performance upgrades across the first four rounds of the campaign and plans to introduce further developments to enhance its VF-24 car.
“Even if we increase the number of people right now, you know, before people joined, it’s going to be another six months, right?” he said.
“So we’re really just focused on things we can control, which is what we got.
“How can we do it most efficiently? And then we try to, let’s say, define the updates in a way that we can bring it early, sooner than later.”
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