Steiner-less Haas introduces its car for the 2024 Formula One season.
BANBURY, England—With the controversy of having two sponsors that were finished because of a sponsorship problem with the performance of the team– followed by a potash manufacturer that was moved aside because of their involvement in a war in Ukraine–the Haas F1 team, with their American MoneyGram sponsor, was the first F1 team to launch their new VF-24 entry.
Friday’s public introduction was held without Gunter Steine, who was dismissed after eight years as team principal.
The car this year is blacker in color, replacing the former silver and sometimes white livery. The red remains with the MoneyGram advertisement on the front and rear wing and nose.
As for Steiner, he wanted to upgrade Haas to make it more competitive following two seasons in last place among rival teams. However, CEO Gene Haas believed the team could progress with their existing equipment. Replacing Stiner is Japanese-born and former engineer Ayao Komatsu.
Komatsu didn’t mince words, knowing the team would face a tough beginning. One big reason is the failure of the upgrades, as witnessed during the U.S. Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Komatsu offered a grim prediction: “Out of the gates in Bahrain, I still think we’re going to be towards the back of the grid, if not last.”
Komatsu elaborated. The reason our launch-spec car is not going to be quick enough in Bahrain is not because of the quality of the people we have here but because we started late and then stopped for two months to do the Austin upgrade. It really diverted resources, so we lost time there. But the team is finding good gains in the wind tunnel, so that’s positive, and in terms of characteristics, it’s going in the right direction.
Komatsu also thinks the upcoming test in Bahrain will allow the team to analyze many situations that could clarify how the team can approach the season. “The focus is to have a good test program for Bahrain so that we come away from the test having quality data for the team to analyze and understand which direction to develop the car. This means understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the VF-24 accurately and then putting a coherent plan together to produce updates on the car, which hasn’t happened previously.”
He believes that the drivers will play a stronger role, too. Last year, regarding subjective feedback from drivers, their understanding of the car’s weakness was clear. He continued: “However, we couldn’t reflect that in our car development program. With the changes we made in the team, we aim to address this issue with our drivers more in the loop of development paths so that nothing gets lost. As engineers, we have all the data from many sensors, but we can’t drive the car and feel what’s happening. So, we’ve got to understand and react to drivers’ feedback better.”
That said, the team is banking on being more competitive with the return of both drivers, Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, from last season.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the VF-24 running and racing — a sentiment I know I share with our partners and, indeed, the entire team,” Komatsu remarked. “In Hulkenberg and Magnussen, we’ve got a great pair of drivers behind the wheel. Their experience will prove invaluable again as we develop our program throughout the year.”
