Team principal Ayao Komatsu is delighted by the turnaround Haas has made since the season-opening race in Australia, after his team moved up to fifth in the constructors’ championship after four rounds.
Haas discovered a significant weakness with its car in Melbourne, as it struggled with p orpoising — or bouncing — in high-speed corners due to the design of its 2025 floor. Although the smoother surface in China allowed for a far more competitive weekend, with both drivers scoring points, a quick fix was introduced in Japan that enabled the team to score a point at another high-speed circuit, before adding another double-points result in Bahrain.
“Of course I can’t ,” Komatsu (pictured at left, above, with Esteban Ocon) told SiriusXM. “It’s Formula 1 so a lot changes in a very short space of time — we all know that. That’s why in Melbourne, every day trackside were talking to the guys in Italy and the guys in the UK, working together, trying to find a solution and come up with a strategy to understand how we were going to attack the next few races.
“And then Shanghai, Suzuka, Bahrain, you see the result of that. We are far from perfect, of course, but what really gives me great pleasure is this team, and how we grew up together. We believe together and we support each other.
“There is none of this blame culture or finger-pointing or hiding away. We all accepted that, ‘We’ve got a big issue here, we’ve got to tackle it head-on, what’s the best way to go about it?’ and we were just working together. Also the two drivers, Esteban and Ollie , they have been absolutely at the center of it. That’s what we needed, that’s what I was looking for, and that’s what we’re doing.