Ayao Komatsu says Haas is currently enacting a recruitment drive “never seen before” in its Formula 1 history, after convincing owner Gene Haas and his key lieutenant to make fresh investment.
Komatsu was appointed team principal of the American squad at the start of 2024, after Gene Haas opted to axe former team boss Guenther Steiner in a surprising move.
This was after Haas had finished last in the 2023 constructors’ championship and its owner did not want to provide more capital until the team had shown it could improve with what it already had – an approach that frustrated Steiner.
Komatsu, however, always insisted that Haas should be able to do exactly this, and with its VF-24 challenger, the team has gone on to already score 56% more than its points haul in 2023, with 10 races left in the current campaign.
As a result, the ex-Lotus chief engineer approached his bosses about starting a new recruitment drive – something that Autosport understands had previously been rejected – after the 2024 Australian GP, where Haas had scored its first double points finish since the 2022 Austrian GP.
Haas plans to grow its team staff size, which is currently around 300 people, considerably less than the multi-thousands employed at top F1 squads, by approximately 10%.
Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1 Team, Nico Hulkenberg, Haas F1 Team, and Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team, with engineers
Photo by: Mark Sutton
“[We showed] we can improve the performance,” Komatsu told Autosport in an exclusive interview.
“Then what we need to convince [the] owner is performance. He’s always looking at, ‘We want to get better, how can we go quicker?’
“So, if we can show baby steps that if we work together, even with the same resources…
“Now, even though we are on a huge recruitment [drive] that we’ve never seen before in the history of Haas F1 Team, we haven’t actually got those people on board yet, so we are largely still the same size.
“But when you’re working together, it’s just the atmosphere is so much different. And when the atmosphere is so much different, when there’s so much positivity, of course people function better, people produce performance. That’s the biggest difference I think.
Komatsu also credits the “massive” impact of bringing Haas Automation CEO Bob Murray to the team’s Banbury base, winter testing and several races for making the case that having shown what was possible with the same resource level it had in 2023, the Haas team could do even better with more.
As well as the recruitment drive, next year Haas will get a new motorhome for the first time in its F1 history, which the team feels is important for increasing squad morale and improving facilities for guests and sponsors.
“My strategy was to get people like Bob, who has been Gene’s right-hand man for 38 years, onboard, and Gene onboard, get them involved, get them to realise what it takes to be successful in Formula 1,” Komatsu explained.
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team, Gene Haas, Owner and Founder, Haas F1 Team, on the grid
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
“The previous strategy might have been the opposite. But my strategy from day one is, ‘If the owner doesn’t understand the reality, then of course he’s going to get annoyed because he would expect the result that we cannot achieve’.
“But to get his expectations right, I really needed him to understand more about what it takes to be successful in Formula 1. And then Bob is a very key part of that. So, it’s great.
“And then what I’m really pleased about, is Bob made that commitment as well when he signed me. He said, ‘Ayao, I’m going to support you, I’m going to work with you’.
“It just goes to the show from Gene and Bob, our parent company, there’s commitment. And then Bob 100% is backing it up by his actions. I’m really grateful about that.”