Haas Formula 1 boss Ayao Komatsu has claimed that the team “weren’t working together” under the leadership of his predecessor Guenter Steiner.
Steiner departed Haas prior to the campaign beginning as the American outfit announced Trackside Engineering Director Komatsu would take his place.
Haas has thrived under Komatsu’s guidance, recording 46 points this season to sit seventh in the Constructors’ Championship, three points behind Alpine.
That has marked a stark contrast to the fortunes that Haas endured last season was it slumped to last position in the standings with a meagre 12 points.
Speaking on The Fast and the Curious podcast, Komatsu revealed how he never dreamt of managing an F1 team but the offer was too good to turn down.
He said: “Honestly like I always said that it wasn’t my target to become team principal.
“But I was always thinking about what is holding this team back, If I was doing certain things, how can I make it better?
“So I guess I had a plenty of ideas, and I’ve been with the team since day one.
“Then ultimately just Gene decided that he wanted to make a change.
“When Gene said to me are you interested I said ‘yes’.”
Komatsu encourages a united group
Haas is currently locked into a three-way battle with Alpine and RB for sixth place in the Constructors’ standings with three races left in the 2024 F1 season.
The difference in prize money between finishing seventh or sixth is vital and for a team that is relatively small in size compared to others, it’s even more crucial that Haas secures sixth place.
“We’re having a fantastic season because of who we’ve got,” Komatsu added.
“At the end of the day you know your team is only as good as the people you’ve got and then since I’ve been here from day one, I know we’ve got good people, I knew.
“I always believed we had really talented people, but it wasn’t put together.
“We weren’t working together as a team, we weren’t singing from the same hymn sheet.
“So really like my first focus when I got this job was trying to make us work as one as a team because we are the smallest team on the grid.
“We are just over 300 people, other teams have 600 people, 900, a thousand, 1200.
“So if we are not united, if you’re not working as a team, we don’t stand a chance.
“But I really believe we got individuals to do much better than what we’ve been doing before.
“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. So, that was my target.”
