Haas F1 director Ayao Komatsu believes the team “did not work in a cohesive manner” under the leadership of his predecessor, Gunter Steiner.
Haas F1 has flourished under Komatsu's management, recording 50 points this season to place sixth in the constructors' championship, just one point ahead of Alpine F1. However, the momentum is clearly on the side of the American team to consolidate this 6th place taken by Enstone during the double podium obtained in Brazil.
This stands in stark contrast to the fortunes Haas endured last season, where they dropped to last position in the standings with just 12 points.
Komatsu revealed he never dreamed of running an F1 team but the offer was too good to turn down.
“Honestly, like I always said, it wasn't my goal to become a team manager. But I was always thinking about what was holding this team back, if I did certain things, how can I improve it? “
“So I guess I had a lot of ideas since I've been on the team since day one. Then finally Gene decided he wanted to make a change. When Gene asked me if I was interested, I said “yes”.”
“We are having a fantastic season thanks to our people. At the end of the day you know your team is only as good as the people you have and having been here since day one I know we have good people , I knew it.”
“I always believed we had some really talented people, but we didn't have that in common. We didn't work together as a cohesive team, we didn't sing along.”
“So actually my first goal when I got this job was to try to get us to work as one team, because we're the smallest team on the grid. We're a little over 300 people, the other teams have 600, 900, 1000 or even 1200.”
“So if we're not united, if you're not working as a team, we don't have a chance. But I really believe we've gotten individuals to do a lot better than what we were doing before.”
“So my first job when I got this job was really to try to talk to people and understand them and listen to them rather than telling them what to do and listening to them and really thinking about what they need from the team, to the type of environment that I can offer them or facilitate to allow them to flourish. So that was my goal.”
