Haas eyeing $100m windfall for 2024 F1 progress

Sep.26 (GMM) Haas is making impressive steps forward in its new post-Gunther Steiner era.

After Steiner’s long reign, Ayao Komatsu took over at the helm of the small American team in 2024 – and already the much better results are flooding in.

“Nico (Hulkenberg)’s P6 on the grid (in Singapore), just six tenths from pole position, is like pole position for our small team,” the Japanese said.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport believes Komatsu, a long-serving senior engineer at Haas prior to his promotion, has successfully changed the team culture.

“Every good idea is followed up now, no matter who it comes from,” he confirmed. “In the past, the direction was set from above.”

Car upgrades used to be rare and often hit-and-miss for Haas, but all three major development steps so far this season have moved the pace forwards.

“The first only worked 50 percent, the second delivered more than the numbers predicted, and the third was delayed by one race,” Komatsu said.

“With the first one, several of our guys immediately came up with ideas about how we could still get the most out of the package. There was no blame – everyone just pulled together.”

Points finishes are now common for Haas, resulting in the team moving up from dead last overall in 2023 to currently beating Williams, Alpine and Sauber – and just a few points behind RB.

“Most of the time since the summer break we’ve been faster than Aston Martin,” Komatsu confirmed.

If Haas can overtake RB for sixth overall in the constructors’ championship, that would result in a nearly $100 million prize money windfall.

Currently, Haas is perhaps the only team in pitlane that does not have an overnight taskforce back at its HQ to deeply analyse day-on-day data with a driver in a sophisticated simulator.

“We have plans to set something like that up, but it has to be done step by step,” Komatsu insists.

“If a department like that just makes more noise and in the end those at home and those at the track argue about who has the better ideas, nothing will be gained.”