After finishing last in the 2021 constructors’ standings with zero points, Haas at least managed to get off the mark in the first season of the current Formula 1 rules cycle in 2022. However, after taking one step forward, its results under the ground effect era went a further two steps back last year as it returned to the foot of the table.
The American-owned team’s backward momentum was followed by team boss, Gene Haas, overseeing a major staffing overhaul, headlined by the departure of Guenther Steiner from his long-held post as team principal and promoting technical director, Ayao Komatsu, in his place. Considering he is the face of a new era, Komatsu came out surprisingly pessimistic about the Haas VF-24’s potential ahead of the new season, stating that he expected the car to start ‘towards the back of the grid, if not last.’
The bar could not have been set lower, but the team wants to raise it as the season progresses, not least Komatsu who has a chance to prove himself as team leader. The organisational shuffle included the promotion of former chief designer, Andrea De Zordo, to technical director, and some other movements within the staff hierarchy.
Despite Komatsu’s downbeat outlook (based on his claim that Haas lost two months of VF-24 development time as it worked on a late-season 2023 upgrade) the latest car has not been a disaster. That’s probably enough to be considered a success considering how badly the previous campaign went. At round two in Saudi Arabia, Nico Hülkenberg ended an eight-race pointless streak to give the team’s 2024 programme an early boost.
Tyre wear was the main reason why last year’s Haas floundered in races. The VF-23 was occasionally hot in qualifying, reaching the final session 11 times, but points were only scored on four occasions. Correcting that imbalance has been high on the agenda for 2024 and Haas hammered that point home when it prioritised long runs during pre-season testing in Bahrain, where it clocked the most laps.
‘Probably the characteristics of the car last year were not the best,’ admitted De Zordo. ‘It performed very well in certain conditions, but in others it had big losses. This made it a lot more difficult to drive. When you have new tyres, it covers some of these bad characteristics and makes it easier for the drivers.’
Haas wanted to…
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