Surprisingly, Haas is off to a stronger start this season in comparison to last year. Following the departure of Guenther Steiner, the team named a new principal. Former engineering director, Ayao Komatsu, is the new boss who has previously expressed concern that his team would be last on the grid in 2024.
Haas managed to have a strong result in Saudi Arabia as they managed to score a point with Nico Hulkenberg. In recent months, Haas has worked quite hard to improve their car, and this year’s VF-24 is definitely better than its predecessor.
Ex-F1 team owner, Eddie Jordan, is afraid that the team perhaps lacks the ambition of winning. The team hasn’t made any drastic changes to this year’s challenger and is satisfied with its current state.
The problem is that Haas has been in F1 for a long time (2016, ed.) but I haven't seen any progress. I don't see any ambition to win a Grand Prix. Eddie Jordon said: Formula for Success podcast
According to Jordan, the Kannapolis-based team has a talented driver lineup with Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen. These drivers are good at their job, it’s the team that is lacking to give them the car, that performs well. The competition in the F1 world is increasing day by day, Haas needs to roll up their sleeves and get to work to stay competitive.
Kevin Magnussen feels Haas is off to a better start with Ayao Komatsu
Gunther Steiner‘s departure from Haas came as a huge shock to the world of F1. As mentioned earlier, Komatsu was the engineering director of the team before he stepped into the role of new team principal.
Ever since Komatsu’s step up, the outfit has gone through some positive changes. The drivers feel better and more confident than before. Kevin Magnussen acknowledged the same in an interview.
We're just looking ahead and I think the atmosphere in the team is very healthy at the moment, the engineers are super-motivated. I feel in the garage, there's a fresh outlook, a fresh start in a way and that has given everyone a bit of hope and a bit of a boost, feeling like this is a new opportunity. Kevin Magnussen said: racingnews365.com
According to Magnussen, who avoided comparing Steiner and Komatsu, the team is more open to conversations. It is like a fresh start as the latter has managed to somewhat fix the issues with the team’s new challenger. However, Haas still needs to perform better to score points as they try and make their way up on the 2024 Constructors standings.
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