With immediate effect, Guenther Steiner resigns from his position as Haas Team Principal in order to elevate Ayao Komatsu.
Director of Engineering Ayao Komatsu has taken over as Team Principal of the Haas Formula One Team following the departure of Guenther Steiner.
Since the American team joined Formula One in 2016, Steiner has served as team leader. The Italian became well-known in the sport after landing a lead part in Netflix’s Drive To Survive series. He was the third-longest serving team principal in Formula One, after Christian Horner of Red Bull and Toto Wolff of Mercedes.
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Under his leadership, the team experienced real high moments, such as points on their debut in Australia in 2016, their first-ever pole position in Brazil the previous year, and a fifth-place finish in the constructors’ championship in 2018.
But it was a difficult year for them last year. Haas struggled to convert their one-lap qualification performance into a race pace that would score points on Sunday, and as a result, they placed last in the constructors’ championship, down two spots from the previous year.
He has over 20 years of experience in Formula 1, working across engineering and management roles with British American Racing, plus a long stint at Renault before he joined Haas.
Haas say Komatsu will take responsibility for the team’s overall strategy, and ultimately on-track performance, with a brief to maximise the team’s potential through employee empowerment and structural process and efficiency.
With Komatsu focused on the on-track performance, Haas plan to recruit a European-based Chief Operating Officer who will look after all non-competition matters and departments, including areas such as HR, admin, finance, marketing and communications.
“To begin with, I would like to thank Guenther Steiner for all of his hard work over the past ten years and I wish him well for the future,” owner Gene Haas stated.
As a company, it was obvious that we had to raise our on-track results going ahead. Ayao Komatsu’s appointment as Team Principal reflects the basic engineering focus of our management.
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“Although we have seen some success, we must continue to produce outcomes that support the organization’s larger objectives. While we must maximize the use of the resources at our disposal, strengthening our engineering and design skills is essential.
“I’m obviously very excited to have the opportunity to be Team Principal at Haas,” Komatsu stated. Being a part of the team since its 2016 track debut, I have a clear personal stake in its success in Formula 1. I’m excited to take charge of our program and the different internal competitive activities to make sure we can create a framework that results in better on-track performances.
“At the end of the day, our business is results-driven, and we haven’t been competitive enough lately, which has been frustrating.
Gene and all of our partners, especially MoneyGram, have been incredibly supportive, and we want to return the favor with an enhanced on-track solution. Together, our talented team from Kannapolis, Banbury, and Maranello will undoubtedly provide the type of performances we are capable of.
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