Haas F1 team principal Ayao Komatsu said he had to overcome a long-held view that they were wasting their time trying to introduce upgrades to a car during the season.
Komatsu, who replaced Gunther Steiner as team principal at the start of the year, admits the technical team lacked confidence in their ability to improve an F1 car by upgrading it during the season.
“One of the main problems we had in previous years was that Haas was not able to develop the car in-season. We were unable to upgrade the car to make it perform as expected. .”
“And then, some people used to say that an upgrade is a waste of time, that it never works, that we shouldn't do it. But for me, it's the opposite. When upgrading doesn't work, you really need to find out why it's not working. It has to work.”
Teams cannot hope to progress in F1 if they do not improve their cars during the year.
“To be competitive in Formula 1, you have to be able to develop the car during the season, that's for sure. You can't just understand your car well and find the best settings. It works for a while, for a while. month. Then you lose ground. And if it doesn't work, you have to understand why it doesn't work.
Komatsu reveals that the team was able to resolve the problem by restructuring its technical division.
“It's the two drivers who tell you what the problems are with the car. So you really have to understand their feelings, and then you have to communicate that well with the guys at home. In our case, the guys in Italy, who basically design the car, the designers and the aerodynamicists.”
“So that closed-loop communication that works together was key. So that required a change in structure and moving some people that I didn't think were in the right positions and then putting the right people in the right place , by having a structure that promotes this closed-loop communication.”
