Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu revealed he “never expected” Alpine to secure its double podium in Brazil that vaulted it to sixth in the Formula 1 constructors’ standings – but he pointed to the positive performance displayed by future driver Esteban Ocon.
Alpine has struggled all year following a poor opening to the season with no points until round six in Miami, yet transformed its campaign with a stunning 2-3 at Interlagos last weekend.
Ocon, who finished second ahead of team-mate Pierre Gasly and at one stage pulled out a gap to Max Verstappen whilst leading, will join Haas in 2025 to partner Oliver Bearman in an all-new line-up and that gave Komatsu a silver lining to what was a disappointing weekend overall.
“I never expected Alpine to score a double podium but we always knew that anything can happen,” Komatsu, whose team scored zero points at the Brazilian Grand Prix, told Motorsport.com.
“In these kinds of chaotic races, anyone can score 15 points. I wasn’t expecting 33 points, but it happened. Congratulations to Alpine, their car was mega in wet conditions, so quick.
“If there is a positive, Esteban, our driver for next year, drove so well. So I sent a message to congratulate him straight away. You have to respect your opposition, they did a great job, they had the correct car for these conditions.”
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team, Mark Slade, Race Engineer, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Haas was comfortably sixth before that result, with Nico Hulkenberg continuing his season-long pace and Kevin Magnussen gathering momentum, only to miss the weekend through illness.
But following Ocon and Gasly’s performances in the treacherous conditions, as well as RB’s double points finish, the three teams are separated by just five points heading into the final three rounds of the season.
“I think I said with eight races to go, a nice gap to Alpine, we just have to be on it every single event – that hasn’t been the case,” conceded Komatsu, whose team is now seventh in the championship.
“In Austin, we dropped off on Sunday, [in Brazil] yes, the car is not quick enough on intermediate tyres but operationally we should have done much much better.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1st position, Esteban Ocon, Alpine F1 Team, 2nd position, Pierre Gasly, Alpine F1 Team, 3rd position, Pierre Wache, Technical Director, Red Bull Racing, on the podium
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“From SQ, there was not a single session which was good enough so we have to look at ourselves and say if we want to be at the top of the midfield teams, we have to improve operationally.
“The positive is if you look at our drivers, Ollie in SQ3, without a control box failure he should have been fighting for P6. So in the dry, we had the pace but on the inters in wet conditions, we didn’t have that much pace. But still, we should have come away with points.
“I just need to motivate people, so the last three races, we just have to be on it. Then hopefully, if they are dry races, we should be able to score points.”
