Ayao Komatsu knows that Haas will mostly be at the back of the grid to start F1 2024, as they are aiming to build on the new concept.
Ever since the launch or even before it, Haas has been realistic about its chances at the start of the 2024 F1 season. After deploying a new concept in Austin last year, the team understood that it may not work out as expected having experimented on it.
They then opted for a new concept for 2024 which they are quietly optimistic about but knows the competition around and where it stands. They want to build upon this concept and know that they won’t start off high in the order.
They hope that it will grow as the year progresses and be more competitive then. “Out of the gates in Bahrain, like I said, I still think we’re going to be towards the back of the grid, if not last,” said Komatsu. “Since I’ve become Team Principal, I’ve spent a lot of time talking to managers – both in the UK and Italy – and they’re excited because it’s an opportunity to improve and there are areas of improvement everywhere.
“The reason our launch-spec car is not going to be quick enough in Bahrain is not because of the quality of the people we have here, but it’s because we started late and then we stopped for two months to do the Austin upgrade. It really diverted resource, so we lost time there, but the team is finding good gains in the wind tunnel so that’s positive and in terms of characteristics, it’s going in the right direction.
“The focus is to have a good test program for Bahrain so that we come away from the test having quality data for the team to analyze and understand which direction to develop the car. This means understanding the strength and weakness of the VF-24 accurately, then put a coherent plan together to produce updates on the car, which hasn’t happened previously. Drivers will play a stronger role too.
“Last year, in terms of subjective feedback from drivers, their understanding of what the weakness of the car was clear, however, we weren’t then able to reflect that in our car development program. With the changes we made in the team, we aim to address this issue with our drivers more in the loop of development paths so that nothing gets lost. As engineers we have all the data from many sensors, but the one thing we can’t do is drive the car and feel what’s going on. So, we’ve got to be able to understand and react to drivers’ feedback better,” summed up Komatsu.
When pressed on about the problems they faced with the VF-23 and the eventual work done on VF-24 to rectify those, Komatsu admits it was a big challenge and ask for them. Even with the Austin update, they had to re-locate resources which cost them.
While they don’t overly regret it as they found their way due to the failure of the update package, Haas are a bit down on losing some valuable time on it. “Again, to understand the problem of the VF-23, creating the updated car in Austin was pretty useful,” said Komatsu. “Mainly because when we split the cars and Nico went back to the previous spec while Kevin continued with the new, we could see the performance differences in varying speeds of corner.
“We got a lot of data from that, and that confirmed where we needed to concentrate our development for the VF-24. It was a big exercise to do, and it did delay our VF-24 development, but if we hadn’t done it and then had a huge surprise come pre-season testing, it would’ve hurt us immensely. It was a difficult balance, and doing the Austin package means the VF-24 launch car may not be as advanced as it could be, but at the same time we have better confidence in what we’re putting out on track now.
“We’re all realistic that our launch car in Bahrain will not necessarily turn heads, but our concentration and focus is to work with the VF-24, understand the car, and then define the correct pathway to upgrade the car. During the time it took to make the Austin-spec car, we had to stop resources to the VF-24 for two months, and that’s performance we could’ve found there.
The team is recovering well, but you have to be realistic because our competitors are smart and they’re finding performance as well. We know how much we’ve gained since the end of the 2023 season, but I expect everyone else to be finding at least the same amount of gain. At least we should have a better base in the VF-24. With a better cohesion within the team to find performance, we can aim to bring upgrades relatively early on in the season,” summed up Komatsu.
Here’s Haas on organisational changes
Here’s Haas’ 2024 F1 livery
Here’s Haas announcing Oliver Bearman, Pietro Fittipaldi as reserve
Here’s Ayao Komatsu on being realistic about 2024
Here’s Kevin Magnussen raised early alarm bells knowing 2019 scene
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