Haas Formula 1 boss Ayao Komatsu has said the team’s main priority for Formula 1 pre-season testing is to validate whether it has solved the tyre issues that plagued it last year.
Having returned to a competitive standing upon F1’s switch to ground effect cars in 2022, Haas slipped back to the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship last term.
The American outfit struggled with a car that had hit a development ceiling and its fortunes failed to improve after introducing a revised concept ahead of the closing rounds.
Komatsu has admitted that Haas is prepared to begin the latest campaign on the back foot, having switched to the downwash sidepod solution as late as last October.
However, the Japanese engineer, who replaced Guenther Steiner at the helm last month, is optimistic that Haas can begin to take steps forward in the coming months.
“The short-term objective really is to make incremental improvements,” Komatsu said.
“As I’ve said before, I believe we’ve got good ingredients and we’ve got good people in the team, but we’ve really got to focus on the team being as one to make those improvements.
“Long-term obviously comes as a result of that, so for instance, our first ‘medium-term’ goal is to upgrade to a car that works, and that has happened before so I believe we can do it.”
The VF-23 proved to be a car capable of sporadic turns of pace over one lap, but Haas was unable to capitalise on those moments due to excessive tyre degradation.
Komatsu has outlined that Haas aims to use the three days of running ahead of the first race to assimilate if it has rectified the problem that thwarted it throughout 2023.
“It’s not really so much comparing the differences across the specs but if you look at our issue last year, it was clear that on Sunday we just couldn’t manage the tyres for 300 kilometres – so that’s what we’re focused on,” he explained regarding the plan for the sole pre-season test in Bahrain.
“Our Bahrain test program is completely focused on generating the relevant data so that our engineers can understand what’s happening to the car and what’s happening to the tyres.
“Then we can decide, if we have good quality data, on the conclusion of how to improve it. Then we decide a different direction on that.”
Komatsu has also commended the team’s experienced driver line-up of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, who will partner each other for a second season.
“Their working relationship is very good. In terms of the car they are looking for, it’s not completely the same but the core fundamentals are, so it’s not like the team has to respond to two different preferences – which is great,” Komatsu addressed.
“Their feedback has been very accurate, if you like, in the way that they tell us the issues of the car. They explain it in a way that engineers can understand very well so they are really driving the team forward.
“Also, they’re both very mature, so in terms of the Friday run program, tyres allocations etc. they both understand the bigger picture and what rules they are playing, which takes a lot of the pressure off the engineering team, so it’s been really good.”
