‘It wasn’t the case last year’ – Komatsu on ‘the key’ reason he feels Haas are thriving under his leadership

Ayao Komatsu has credited his colleagues at Haas for their unexpected success during the first half of the 2024 season, which has seen the team sneak up to seventh in the standings.

The Team Principal took over earlier this year after previous incumbent Guenther Steiner’s contract was not renewed, and has enjoyed a promising start to his new role after leaving the engineering department.

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Since Komatsu’s promotion, Haas have progressed significantly compared to last season, taking two remarkable P6 finishes with Nico Hulkenberg in Austria and Britain and achieving 27 points so far.

Their effective upgrade packages have been crucial in enabling them to keep pace with their opponents, but Komatsu has also identified the importance of teamwork in helping Haas to improve.

“27 points is great – it’s more than double what we ever had last year,” Komatsu said. “But more than that, I think it’s very encouraging seeing how we are working together as a team.

“That wasn’t the case up until the end of last year, so for me that’s the biggest positive and for sure, that’s a good sign that we are going in the right direction.”

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Even with the updates brought to the car for Imola and Silverstone, the Team Principal believes that Haas would not be where they are without the accepting culture they have developed.

He explained: “From day one, I was convinced we’ve got plenty of good people, amazing people, so it’s a matter of putting that together and giving those people an environment that they can perform in.

"Everyone, it doesn’t matter who you are – IT person, software person, race engineer, driver, or finance person – everybody needs to understand what you’re doing and how it will contribute to the performance on the track.

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“Once you start building that and getting the message through, once everyone knows how they’re contributing, then that promotes teamwork as well. There’s no blame culture; when something isn’t working, we’ve got to get to the bottom of it, but it’s not a witch hunt. Making that safe space for everyone where they can move forward is the key.”