In January 2024, the F1 world was left stunned as Guenther Steiner’s contract was not renewed, leading to his departure as Ayao Komatsu got the Haas team principal gig. It has proven to be a tremendous decision by Gene Haas.
A desperately disappointing 2023 F1 season leads to change
After MoneyGram joined as a title sponsor ahead of the 2023 season, the team was in a good place off the track. On the circuit, however, it was a very different story.
While Nico Hülkenberg made Q3 on eight occasions that season, they had enormous, bordering on embarrassing levels of tyre wear throughout the campaign in races. Only 12 points got scored. They finished last in the standings.
Working on tyre management and race pace an immediate focus
During testing in Bahrain ahead of the 2024 F1 season, Ayao Komatsu and Haas instantly put a lot of effort into curing their high tyre degradation struggles of the previous year. It worked.
Although at the start of the year the VF-24 did not have the one-lap speed of its predecessor, the fact they could do long stints in races truly gave them a chance to fight on a Sunday. 2025 has seen them run very long stints on tyres during races, confirming a truly impressive turnaround.
In-season upgrades improving the cars
Whether through a lack of updates put on that year’s car or upgrades simply not working as predicted, this has been another key area of improvement for Haas F1 Team under Ayao Komatsu.
At the 2024 British GP, Haas introduced a significant update. It started to transform their season. Nico Hülkenberg was full of praise for it after qualifying and finishing P6 that weekend.
In the last nine rounds, they scored points in eight of them. Only an extraordinary 2-3 for Alpine at the São Paulo GP prevented them from finishing P6 in the Constructors’ Championship.
Recovering from a terrible start to 2025 to impress once again
It would not be an understatement to say Haas had an absolutely shocking Australian GP to kick off the 2025 F1 season, and it was a big test for Ayao Komatsu and his team. They were the slowest car, losing chunks of time in high speed corners.
Nonetheless, they produced a remarkable turnaround in China, finishing P5 and P8.
They fast-tracked a floor update for the Japanese GP to help with the high speed weaknesses. Ollie Bearman finished P10 that weekend, showing the incredible progress made from Melbourne.
Further upgrades at Silverstone and very recently in Austin have also helped improve the car. Despite a big regulation change next year, Ayao Komatsu and the Haas team have done a great job at improving their car.
Equalling their best ever F1 result at the Mexico City GP
Seven years on from Romain Grosjean finishing P4 at the 2018 Austrian GP for Haas, Ollie Bearman delivered the same result in Mexico just over a week ago.
The result in Mexico was even more impressive. With Hamilton, Bottas (both Mercedes), and Ricciardo (Red Bull) dropping out of the race with various technical problems at the Red Bull Ring event in 2018, Bearman’s P4 was on merit and not having some luck attached to it.
He beat former championship leader Oscar Piastri, both Mercedes drivers and Lewis Hamilton on the day, executing superb pace when he got track position on lap 6. The Brit even held off and inched away from Max Verstappen until he boxed for the first time.
It was a huge result for Haas, Ayao Komatsu and the whole team. 22 months of unbelievably hard work and consistent improvements led to this.
Since the beginning of 2024 and Komatsu’s time in charge, Haas have scored 120 points. That compares to 80 across the last five seasons of Steiner’s tenure.
Communication is better, Haas starting to maximise their resources
Before the 2025 F1 season, Komatsu shared some interesting remarks about communication in the team, suggesting in multiple interviews that not everyone was aligned under the leadership of Guenther Steiner.
“So my first job for me when I got this job was really trying to talk to people, understand and listen to them rather than telling them [what to do], listen to them and really think what they need from the team, what kind of environment I can give them or facilitate to let them flourish,” was a particularly interesting quote from the Japanese engineer turned team boss.
On the evidence of the last 22 months, there has been significant improvements in this area. Car performance has come on leaps and bounds since 2023. Komatsu also rang the changes over the winter of 2024/25. Mark Slade and Gary Gannon left their race engineer positions, with Ronan O’Hare and Laura Mueller taking those roles. Highly regarded and respected Motorsport engineer Francesco Nenci was also brought on as Chief Race Engineer.
While Steiner’s one-liners and general joking demeanour was hugely popular with fans, with some in the media and with some potential sponsors, the reality is Haas were nowhere near getting the maximum out of themselves on and off track.
F1 is a results business. Steiner was not up to par.
Further room to grow
While there has been significant progress under the leadership of Ayao Komatsu, Haas F1 can still make gains and improve.
Between driver mistakes and strategy calls, points have been left on the table this year. Komatsu has not hidden his frustration at that.
Nonetheless, with four Grands Prix and two Sprints remaining in 2025, Haas sit just 10 points behind Racing Bulls in the Constructors’ Championship. They are involved in a super close fight with Aston Martin and Sauber as well. Fine margins will decide positions 6-9 come Abu Dhabi.
Overall, though, the last two F1 seasons have been hugely encouraging for Gene Haas and his future in the sport. Ayao Komatsu and everyone involved has done a superb job to get Haas properly fighting in the midfield once again.
A first F1 podium has never looked closer, even if that step to make it is a very high one at the moment.
What is clear now is that the current team principal of Haas is one who focuses on results, improving the car and getting the best out of every single member in the team. It’s time to give Ayao Komatsu the credit he deserves.
