AYAO KOMATSU

Haas F1 has been synonymous with the figure of Guenther Steiner for a decade. But the colourful Tyrolean is no longer in charge, and it’s his former right-hand man, Ayao Komatsu, who’s been tasked with elevating the team from last place in the standings.

Ayao, how many meetings did you have with Haas F1 staff before the season started?

Loads. As soon as it was announced on the 10th of January, in the next few days I just tried to have as many one-on-one meetings at our UK base with as many managers, key people as I could – just to get some honest feedback and a feel for it. Then I went to Italy and did the same thing, trying to organise my day so I could do both group sessions as well as individual meetings, to get an understanding of what the difficulties are for these people and what I need to do to help.

What was the main takeaway?

The great thing is that I haven’t had to convince anyone to work in a certain way. Because in different areas – be it communications, engineering, trackside, aerodynamics or wherever else – it was basically all the same: we were all wanting, craving the same thing. That was a very positive thing to see. If I had to convince everyone: ‘Come on, this is what we have to do’ – it’s a waste of energy. But no, everyone was on board. ‘Let’s use this as an opportunity. I totally agree, this is what we should do. Let’s do it.’ That was really positive.

You must have had an idea of the challenge when you took the job. Was the reality different?

Better. The more I looked into it, the more I saw things we could improve. My understanding of certain areas – I had to guess. But now we have the facts, we can assess the situation much more accurately and move on. Honestly, it was positive, very positive. And also the people... I rely on many, many people now, but from day one I said: ‘I’m not going to do your job for you – it’s not going to work. You are talented. You know what you’re doing, just tell me what I need to do to give you the environment’.

Is it hard not to micromanage the engineering team, coming from that background yourself?

I don’t know if it’s difficult or not, but I’m definitely aware of it. And I actively think about it. For example, during the [Bahrain] test, I had to try not to get involved in certain communications. I really try to stay in the background, a few steps back, but still aware. Because if I’m not aware when I need to make certain decisions, I can’t make the right ones.

So you’re still convinced that this team – with the resources it has and the structure it has – can do better?

Even more so. Absolutely.

Just because of the feedback you’ve had?

A combination of things. In some areas, for example, it’s worse than I expected. But then there’s more room for improvement, right? And there are many areas like that – so I’m sure the gain we can make is big. If you get people together, create the environment and communicate better to get everyone on the same page – that multiplies the effect, doesn’t it?

How do you like the media side of the business? You didn’t have to deal with it before, but as team principal is it important for you now?

Yes, in the sense that I want to be consistent. Because the people, the employees, they read it too. If I say one thing on the internet and something completely different internally, it can be confusing, right? It’s important to see the consistency, especially for people who aren’t at the track: when they read comments from Nico [Hülkenberg] and Kevin [Magnussen], comments from me... Imagine if all those were all over the place? Then people in the factories would be thinking: ‘Oh my God, they are not aligned’.

What kind of leader are you?

I’d like to think I lead by example. I think it’s important to be clear about what we’re doing as a team and to communicate well with everyone so that people understand what this team is about and what we’re going to do. Be it this season, three years from now, five years from now. What’s your vision for the next 10 years? I’d like to think I can come up with the strategy and communicate it and also empower people – and as you said, not micromanage. They’re the ones who need to tell me what to do for them rather than me telling them what to do.

I’D LIKE TO THINK I LEAD BY EXAMPLE. I THINK IT’S IMPORTANT TO BE CLEAR ABOUT WHAT WE’RE DOING AS A TEAM