Summer Break, Team Analysis - Formula 1 2024

No longer back of the pack, and seeing success. Have they found the magic formula at Haas? Maybe, but it hasn't come without some on and off the track struggles.

Courtesy Haas F1

So what exactly is the ingredient that has lead Haas to 7th place in the constructors race so far, and 27 points to their tally? Was it the replacement of Gunther Steiner with Ayao Komatsu? Was it sheer luck? Or was it in fact that their upgrades are finally seeing success?

It's the 3rd year of this current FIA iteration of regulations for the cars, and everyone across the board is seeing improvements (some more so than others). So it's natural that teams and their cars will get better. Seems to happen by the 3rd year of each regulation change. What's rather unusual, at least for Haas, is they seem to be so much better than Alpine, Kick Sauber, and Williams. Yes, they have well seasoned drivers with Hulkenberg and Magnussen, so that for sure helps. But it may very well be that Komatsu has a better grasp of what the team needed moving forward than Steiner ever did.

The Netflix series 'Drive to Survive' is great, I've watched every season, and it's cool to see a glimpse of what happens behind the scenes and off the track that we don't get to during race weekends. And yes it made Steiner a star for sure. He is a very likeable guy, and his tenure as the Team Principal was tumultuous for sure. Dealing with rookiee drivers, failures in engineering, brief glimpses of success, and horriffic moments of danger and chaos (Grosjean hitting the wall a few years back in a ball of flames) can put any team principal thru the ringer. The difference from an outside view between Steiner and Komatsu seems to be their demeanor on setting the course and expectations.

Steiner was always reactionary. It never seemed he was guiding the team, but merely reacting to what hands he was being dealt. Hindsight of course is 20/20, but the cool proactive nature of Komatsu seems to be doing the trick. Yes, he still has to deal with driver issues (Magnussen's almost endless tirade of penalties, the double DNF at Monaco while taking out Checo in the process). But his focus towards pushing this team into the future is really driving the ship. Goals are being set, and met, and the car is developing faster than it ever has. It's becoming more and more common place to see a Haas in Q2 of qualifying, and even close to Q3 at times. And on race day they are fighting with RB Visa, and Aston Martin for the middle of the pack points, rather than looking in their mirrors at Alpine, Williams, and Kick Sauber.

Change is a coming though, but I think Komatsu is the magic ingredient that will keep the American team in the mix. They should finish out the 2nd half strong, and the change in driver lineup for next season with Bearman and Ocon shouldn't hurt them any. Oliver Bearman got a good full taste of F1 with his fill in stint at Ferrari for Sainz, and Ocon, though I'm not a big fan, has the same potential to do as well or even better than the outgoing Hulkenberg and Magnussen.

For the moment though, it's heads down and keep on pushing for points and to pass a vulnerable RB team for 6th place in the Championship.