Haas Formula 1 boss Ayao Komatsu contends that the team “cannot keep making mistakes” despite landing a vital double points finish in the Australian Grand Prix.
Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen classified ninth and 10th respectively in Melbourne to add three more points to the one the former picked up in Saudi Arabia.
Haas opted to split strategies for the second consecutive race with Hulkenberg, who exited in Q1, on the Hard compound while Magnussen was put on the Medium.
Hulkenberg capitalised on the Virtual Safety Car being deployed on Lap 17 to make his opening pit stop at a reduced time loss before closing on his team-mate ahead.
Magnussen accepted the call to let Hulkenberg through, with both drivers then taking advantage of George Russell’s last-lap crash to move up an additional position.
However, Komatsu was left with a slight twinge of frustration that Haas had let Magnussen down with the strategic choice to stop him at the end of the seventh lap.
“On the first round of pit stops for Kevin, we lost two positions,” Komatsu told Autosport.
“That shouldn’t have happened. But other than that, everything else was amazing.
“Pitstops were amazing, and then the drivers working together again during the second stint – Kev was on the Hardtyre, Nico was on the Medium tyre, because of the VSC.
“Again, Nico had a better pace. But Kevin’s strategy was already compromised, not because of his fault – the team’s fault.
“So Kevin had every reason to be pissed off, but when we asked to swap, he’s done it straight away. So he knows how important these opportunities are. So, just right.”
Expanding on how Magnussen’s race was hampered, Komatsu explained that Haas opted to respond to Williams’ pit stop rather than leave Magnussen on track.
“Albon pitted,” he continued. “He’s already undercut us. So we shouldn’t have then pitted on the following lap.
“But we did. So we let Albon undercut us – for no reason.
“Then, if you look at [Esteban] Ocon, he went longer on the first stint, and basically overcut us. So we lost the two positions. That just is not right.
“We cannot keep making those mistakes when everything in the midfield is so tight.”
Despite seeing both cars score points for the first time since 2022, Haas dropped a place in the Constructors’ Championship as Yuki Tsunoda finished seventh for RB.
Komatsu thinks Haas squandered a chance to place more pressure on Tsunoda, who was promoted a place when Fernando Alonso was handed a 20-second time drop.
“Tsunoda had a better pace than us,” he conceded.
“But again, if we did our first round of pit stops right, and then with the pace we had on the second stint, I think we could have fought with him much, much closer.
“But just we need to put ourselves in that position first. But you know, full credit to Tsunoda, I think his pace was good today.
“But I feel if we’ve done the perfect job with Kevin, Kevin had the chance to fight with him until the end. That’s what we should be doing.”
Oliver Bearman’s exploits on his F1 debut with Ferrari in Saudi Arabia and his planned six FP1 sessions with Haas have boosted expectations he’ll be on the 2025 grid.
However, Komatsu was again reserved when asked about the team’s 2025 line-up, insisting that he is fixated on ensuring the American outfit continues its strong start.
Asked about Hulkenberg and Magnussen’s future, he replied: “I haven’t thought about that. I know that driver market is very open. I need to think about that pretty soon.
“But at the moment, until we do the first four or five races, I’m just fully focused on working together as a team.
“Honestly, Kevin today, hats off to him. It’s just unbelievable team play. Really amazing.”
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