"I think we’re going to be towards the back of the grid, if not last"

Haas F1 team principal Ayao Komatsu believes they will be at the back of the grid as they start the 2024 season. After unveiling their 2024 challenger, the VF-24, the newly assigned team principal was cautiously optimistic about the team’s expectations for the season ahead.

With late upgrades to their 2023 car in Austin, the Haas F1 team was unable to optimize its performance to finish higher up in the constructor’s championship. Finishing last in the standings, the Banbury-based squad was thoroughly disappointed with its performance. With the dismissal of Guenther Steiner midway through the off-season, they seem to be restructuring their organization to be more competitive in 2024.

Outlining their expectations for the season ahead at the livery launch and car reveal, Komatsu said:

“Out of the gates in Bahrain, like I said, I still think we’re going to be towards the back of the grid, if not last. Since I’ve become Team Principal, I’ve spent a lot of time talking to managers – both in the UK and Italy – and they’re excited because it’s an opportunity to improve and there are areas of improvement everywhere. The reason our launch-spec car is not going to be quick enough in Bahrain is not because of the quality of the people we have here, but it’s because we started late and then we stopped for two months to do the Austin upgrade. It really diverted resource, so we lost time there, but the team is finding good gains in the wind tunnel so that’s positive and in terms of characteristics, it’s going in the right direction.”

Further chalking out the steps that lie ahead, the new Haas F1 team boss said:

“The focus is to have a good test program for Bahrain so that we come away from the test having quality data for the team to analyze and understand which direction to develop the car. This means understanding the strength and weakness of the VF-24 accurately, then put a coherent plan together to produce updates on the car, which hasn’t happened previously.”

According to Komatsu, the Austin upgrade on the Haas 2023 car slightly delayed the development of their 2024 car. He feels a late start to the development of the VF-24 could put them on the back foot in terms of progress in the initial races of the season. Cautiously optimistic about where the team could stand in the pecking order on the grid, the Japanese engineer felt that they could be in the bottom half of the grid.

Ever since Komatsu resumed his new role at the Haas team, the former race engineer has been coordinating their team operations between their bases in Italy and the UK. He feels their team does have the right people to ensure they are competitive, but have lost time during the second half of the 2023 season. The former BAR team engineer claims that their current plan is to have a good preseason test and then decide the direction in which they develop the car over the course of 2024.

Haas team principal believes driver lineup and organizational changes will be key to their progress in 2024

Speaking in a team interview at their launch, the Haas F1 team principal Ayao Komatsu felt that their drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen will play key roles in developing the VF-24. He claimed that their experience and constructive feedback were crucial to understanding the car in 2023.

The newly assigned team boss claimed the changes made to their organizational structure in the technical department will also help the development of their car in 2024. He felt the changes in the team would translate into improvements trackside as well.

Speaking about the key factors in the development of the VF-24, Komatsu said:

“Drivers will play a stronger role too. Last year, in terms of subjective feedback from drivers, their understanding of what the weakness of the car was clear, however, we weren’t then able to reflect that in our car development program. With the changes we made in the team, we aim to address this issue with our drivers more in the loop of development paths so that nothing gets lost. As engineers we have all the data from many sensors, but the one thing we can’t do is drive the car and feel what’s going on. So, we’ve got to be able to understand and react to drivers’ feedback better.”

Announcing the restructuring of their team and changes within, the new Haas team principal explained:

“This is why we’re making changes to the organizational structure on the technical side to ensure that whatever we’re finding out on the track translates into car development. If you look at the organizational structure previously, there isn’t a clear path to close the loop on that side. Everything that’s found trackside, there’s now a closed loop going into the aero, wind tunnel and CFD departments. Now, at least even if there’s a disagreement, everyone is clear about why we’re developing the car in a certain way. That’s one key reason as to why we haven’t been able to put upgrades on the car and fall back in the season. We’re now already working in that way and there’s much better transparency, openness, and communication. Therefore, I believe we have a much better chance of upgrading the car properly this year.”

The Haas VF-24 is an evolution of its predecessor with a few changes to the livery and additions to the bodywork. However, Komatsu had explained that the Austin upgrade did preview and give away many key elements of their 2024 car. While the results could not translate on track in 2023 as they brought the upgrade significantly late in the season, the team is optimistic about the direction of its 2024 car.

The 2023 Haas F1 car was quick in terms of one lap pace but lacked severely in terms of race pace as it suffered from degradation issues. Despite running as high as seventh in the standings, they were eclipsed by their rivals in the second half of the season and ended up finishing last in the constructors’ championship.