Haas boss Ayao Komatsu has revealed the team will introduce some updates at the Japanese Grand Prix to help cure its Formula 1 car’s weakness at high speed.
Komatsu saw the American outfit rejuvenated last time out in China, with Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman completing a morale-boosting double-points finish.
The result was a much-needed tonic for the team, having endured a miserable opening round in Australia, with both cars well off the pace and not in points contention.
However, Suzuka will provide a similar challenge, as the track features plenty of high-speed corners, the particular area where the team’s car struggled at Albert Park.
Therefore, despite the upturn in fortunes in Shanghai last time around, the Kannapolis-based squad will continue with its plan to introduce some upgrades for the race.
Komatsu admitted the team inadvertently overlooked the high-speed problem and the changes will make a positive difference in terms of regularly competing in the midfield.
“We just missed it [the high-speed problem],” Komatsu conceded. “And then again, you might ask why we missed it.
“Because it is actually quite a difficult problem, but it’s not something that you can see in the wind tunnel.
“So things like what you have on the CFD [Computational Fluid Dynamics] analysis methodology, even the wind tunnel data, tools you have, those are the areas I believe we are so far behind.
“So now we’ve got this issue. I mean, I understand why we couldn’t preempt it.”
“In Suzuka, like I said, we’re going to try to bring slight modifications to the car.
“How much does it improve at all – we believe so, that’s why we’re bringing it – but if it does, how much does it improve?
“If it improves a great amount, that puts us in more battle with other cars, maybe the next solution, we can take more time in the wind tunnel and CFD to make sure that will work.
“But if what we do in Suzuka is making the minimum difference, we might have to take more chances on the second one, so it’s all a moving target.
“But at least I’m just trying to put everyone on the same page so that we all understand what we’re dealing with, and what our approaches are.
“But honestly, I am happy with people’s reaction. That’s positive. Then we’ve just got to do it.”
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