Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu has insisted his pre-season prediction that the team would be at the bottom of Formula 1’s pecking order was not a deflection, and that any suggestion it could be better would have been “stupid or arrogant”.
Komatsu took the helm at the American-owned outfit following the shock departure of Guenther Steiner, who had been team principal since Haas joined the F1 grid in 2016.
The team had struggled with issues across the duration of last term, where despite strong qualifying performances – particularly from Nico Hulkenberg – inherent rear tyre degradation left both drivers hamstrung in races and often plummeting down the order.
With an upgrade taken to the United States Grand Prix setting the team back even further against its competitors and then the managerial change taking place in January, Komatsu declared ahead of the opening race of the year in Bahrain that Haas would occupy the back of the grid.
But it has been quite the opposite across the season with Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen making the most of slow starts for rival teams, helping to secure seventh in the constructors’ standings at the summer break – with the German driver taking two consecutive sixth places in Austria and Great Britain.
Denying the comments pre-season was a deliberate deflection, Komatsu explained to Motorsport.com: “Honestly, I knew how much improved over the winter [we were].
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
“You know how small we are, I know how late we started, I know how much time we wasted by doing the Austin upgrade. So, I had to assume people with at least the same resource or three times [the resource] will do at least as good a job as us because I know people are not stupid, right?
“So, I had to assume that you cannot count on people being 10kg overweight or totally messing up the concept. You cannot count on that, you’ve got to make your own result.”
He added: “It’s pretty simple. We are 300 people. The next smallest team there is about three times as much. We started [thinking] like, ‘we wasted some time, how are we going to be better, right?’ So, if I said, ‘loading out of door in Bahrain, we’re going to be P8’, either I’m stupid or arrogant, one or the other.
“Then luckily for us, some other people messed it up, but I cannot count on that. When you’re doing the business, when you’re doing anything, you cannot come for other people’s mess. You’ve got to make your own fortune. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
