Haas significantly strengthens its GP engineering team

If Haas opens a new page in its young history with a brand new duo of drivers in 2025, this is also the case in the internal organization of the team. Under the leadership of Ayao Komatsu, now at the helm for a year, the time has come for a major change with a technical staff that is evolving, particularly on the engineering side.

The Japanese, for example, chose to promote two new racing engineers to work with Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman: Laura Müller, previously in charge of the simulator, and Ronan O'Hare, formerly with Williams, NIO in Formula E, Racing Bulls and Mercedes.

Haas has also recruited a head of strategy, Carine Cridelich, who will take up her position on March 1 after leaving Racing Bulls, while Mark Lowe has arrived as sporting director. Two positions that did not exist under this title before.

As for Francesco Nenci, after a career that took him to Toyota, Sauber and Marussia, he takes on the role of chief racing engineer that Ayao Komatsu left vacant when he succeeded Günther Steiner at the head of the team.

“Our technical team, the one based at the factory, has remained really stable”explains Ayao Komatsu in an interview with the press in which he participated Motorsport.com at the start of the week. “What has changed is the racing team. It's a huge change, but I felt like it was one of our weak points last year. The more competitive the car has become , the more he was exposed.”

“We let too many points slip away because of track operations. So we really had to raise the level on this point. […] It has very often happened that, under pressure, we have not acted as well as we should have. But again, it’s not just about the people, it’s also about the training we can give them.”

Haas wants to give itself the means to take a step forward, after finishing in seventh place in the constructors' championship, not without a touch of regret since Alpine's brilliant end to the season deprived the American team of sixth place by seven points. only.

Last week, the first “TPC” tests with a single-seater dated at least two years ago materialized this new approach, also made possible by the technical partnership established last fall with Toyota.

“Now we have these [essais] as well as the capabilities to simulate certain scenarios”underlines Ayao Komatsu. The Japanese judge “very important” to be able to better manage his team today. “We have a lot more going on before the season starts. We will be better prepared.”

Comments collected by Alex Kalinauckas