Haas’ Team Principal Ayao Komatsu has revealed that owner Gene Haas became increasingly irked by condonations of the poor results the team suffered during Günther Steiner’s tenure.
The Japanese replaced Steiner as Team Principal ahead of this season, having previously been Trackside Engineering Director since the team’s debut season in 2016, thus was often at the coalface when his Italian predecessor would report back to Haas, observing what he perceived as excuses being made, and causing a lack of cohesion and harmony within the team as a whole.
In an interview with RacingNews365, Komatsu said: “The reason [Gene] got frustrated over the years, for some there is an excuse like COVID [in 2020], but last year, there was no excuse.
“There was always some excuse like: ‘okay, this year we are not developing because we are just preparing for next year.
“For 2023, there is no excuse and then what happened in 2023 is because we didn’t fundamentally address the issues of 2019.
“That is people being in denial, pointing the finger at certain things and we were never working properly as a team, that was totally clear.”
After an impressive first season, Haas would see an upwards trajectory in 2018, finishing in fifth place in the Constructors’ standings, finishing ahead of teams such as Williams and McLaren, and only 29 points adrift of Renault in fourth.
But the team has suffered a string of poor results in the time since, as well as an infamous PR disaster due to a botched sponsorship deal with enigmatic drinks brand Rich Energy.
Steiner and Haas’ complex relationship, the Rich Energy debacle, as well as incidents with drivers such as Kevin Magnussen and Nikita Mazepin, were documented in Netflix’s fly-on-the-wall documentary Drive to Survive.
Instances within the show have previously led to speculation as to whether Haas would eventually choose to pull the plug on the F1 project, or indeed sell to a prospective rival such as Andretti, but Komatsu has indicated that the team is here to stay.
“All these experiences are from 2016 in this team, and then knowing what kind of potential I see, I 100% believe that if we can give these people the environment that works, we can do it,” he said.
“Gene’s commitment is completely long-term, he is 100% focused on performance.”
2025 will give Haas cause to be optimistic, with the continuation of their partnership with Ferrari as well as a brand-new driver line-up of Frenchman Esteban Ocon being lured to the team, partnered by Ferrari-backed British youngster Oliver Bearman.
