Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg told Motorsport Week the positive impact Ayao Komatsu has had in his first year as Haas Formula 1 Team Principal.
Komatsu took the position of Team Principal, succeeding Günther Steiner at the start of the 2024 season, having served as Haas’ Trackside Engineering Director since joining the squad in 2010.
His task as a new Team Principal was to lift Haas from 10th in the Constructors’ standings into a more competitive outfit this term.
Komatsu led a Haas team that did just that, just coming up short in the fight for sixth in the standings that went down to the wire at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Magnussen worked with Komatsu during his entire seven-season tenure as a Haas driver and told Motorsport Week ahead of the Las Vegas GP why he thinks the 48-year-old is taking the team in the right direction.
“I think [Komatsu] has some clever ideas about where the team needs to go and how to get there,” Magnussen said.
“I think his vision is strong. He’s a clever guy, he knows the sport very well, he sees opportunities.
“There’s stuff that he’s going to learn about and there’s stuff he’s going to improve at, but I think ever since he came on board, I think it’s gone in a good direction.”
Haas’ 2024 success down to Komatsu’s ‘style of management,’ says Hulkenberg
Hulkenberg‘s two-year stint at Haas culminated in Komatsu’s first season in charge of the squad.
Komatsu set incredibly low expectations at the start of 2024, telling the world’s media that Haas expected to foot up the table, as it did but the end of 2023.
However, it quickly transpired that wouldn’t be the case this year, with Haas able to develop a well-rounded F1 machine that could fight for points on a consistent basis.
58 points and seventh in the standings was Haas’ strongest return since 2018, it’s still unmatched best of fifth in the Constructors’ Championship with 93 points.
Hulkenberg explained how it would have been “foolish” for Komatsu not to keep expectations low at the start of 2024, but praised the Haas’ boss for turning the team’s fortunes around.
“I think it was the only after last year finished, we couldn’t really come in with big expectations and targets because it would have been foolish and not realistic also,” the German driver said.
“But I think [Komatsu has] come in to digest and learn very fast at the beginning of the year and still now, but I think he’s doing a very good job.
“He’s a very, you know, straight guy. He just tells you what he thinks and I’ve enjoyed working with him this year in his TP capacity and a lot of the success that we had now also developing the car and growing as a team is down to his style and management.”
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