Ayao Komatsu, the head of Haas Formula 1 team, has defended his decision to lower the team’s expectations for the 2024 season, despite criticism from his predecessor Guenther Steiner. After finishing at the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship last year, Haas has had a more positive start to the current campaign, scoring points in three races and battling for sixth place with RB in the standings. Komatsu, who took over from Steiner, had acknowledged before the season began that Haas would likely face challenges. However, Steiner disagrees with the negative tone adopted by his successor, pointing out that the VF-24 showed promising numbers in the data. Komatsu, on the other hand, argues that he remained cautious about Haas’ prospects due to uncertainty about the progress made by their rivals during the winter break. He believes that other teams have likely made similar or greater improvements, considering Haas’ late start and limited resources compared to larger teams. Komatsu emphasizes that his expectations are based on a realistic assessment rather than trying to deceive or hide any information.
Komatsu has clarified that he tempered expectations for Haas in order to prevent the team from feeling disheartened if their performance continued to decline from last season. He emphasized the importance of ensuring that his team understood that their current position in Bahrain was not their fault, but rather a result of not having enough time to improve the car’s performance. His goal was to prevent his personnel from becoming depressed and instead focus on starting from where they were and working towards improvement.
During pre-season testing, Komatsu had hoped that Haas would be able to compete with two or three other teams, possibly achieving a position around 8th or 7th. However, he admitted that he could only be certain once they started running. He also noted that the car’s performance on the track differed from what was predicted in the wind tunnel, which presented both challenges and pleasant surprises. While he didn’t go into detail, Komatsu mentioned that the characteristics of the car made it more usable for the driver, allowing them to extract its potential. He emphasized the importance of having a car that is consistent and easy to handle, as it allows the driver to perform consistently throughout a race. Finally, he expressed admiration for anyone who could accurately predict these characteristics solely based on wind tunnel data.