Haas F1 boss Ayao Komatsu was asked what he will miss most about the duo of Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen next year. The Japanese responded to a specific point, which he nevertheless hopes to find in Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman in 2025.
“I think it’s teamwork.” Komatsu said. “If you talk about this year, from the start they completely bought into the idea of improving the team. Kevin and Nico helped each other on and off the track.”
“Of course, Kevin has good experience of this team, six seasons before this year, so he knew the people, he knew what I had to face. He knew the strengths and the weaknesses. But he was very positive and m “Helped the team evolve.”
“And then Nico, even though he was only with us for a year before this year, he's seen enough. He's also a very intelligent man and his work ethic is very, very good. So, again, whatever discussion I had, they were both completely in agreement.”
Komatsu remembers having to ask the two drivers to trust him when he decided to devote the 2024 private tests to tire performance, but he welcomes their self-sacrifice to help Haas: “When we decided to only do long runs with lots of fuel, the drivers were not happy.”
“But I said 'look, this is what we have to do because of this,' this is the biggest problem.' If we didn't get an answer on that, we wouldn't have progressed But once we got on the same page, they never looked back.
“They completely bought into the project, were committed, worked as team members and made a great contribution. This team dynamic with Kevin and Nico helped on the track, off the track, and made my job easier.”
“In the sense that if you have to swap positions or use team instructions or whatever, or in a race program use different fuel loads, different priorities, which can make one seem of them worse than it actually is, they don't care. They know we work for the team.”
“At the end of the day, they were completely focused on the constructors' championship. That teamwork mentality, they kind of carried it from the front, if you will.”
“So I have to create the same thing next year, with Ollie and Esteban. That's probably what I will miss: their cooperation, their teamwork and leading the team together as an integral part of the team.”
