The ‘funny’ thing Ayao Komatsu used to do to ‘wind up’ some of his Haas employees

Ayao Komatsu has been integral to the Haas team’s development since becoming team principal at the end of 2023.

The American team have improved significantly and are battling Alpine for sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship with three rounds to go.

Haas have become a more reserved team with Komatsu at the helm, he is a very different character to Guenther Steiner, who led the team from 2016 until last year.

They are also collaborating with Toyota, which was a partnership announced just before the United States Grand Prix. This should help the team unlock some more talent from Japan.

Komatsu has performed well as team principal and Stuart Codling claimed on the Flat Chat podcast that he liked to annoy some members of his team.

Ayao Komatsu liked to drink coffee at night to annoy the Ferrari and Dallara personnel

Haas are a relatively unique to amongst the 10 outfits in the Formula 1 paddock. They are Ferrari customers using their engine and gearbox.

They also have a partnership with Dallara, as the American team outsources parts for their Formula 1 cars from the Italian manufacturer.

READ MORE: Ayao Komatsu thinks Oliver Bearman would have a ‘different story’ driving for F1 rival after ‘mistakes’

The various companies helping Haas in Formula 1 are collaborating well after a difficult time for Steiner after Covid.

Codling explained exactly how Komatsu wound up the Italian employees at Haas in the paddock at race weekends.

He said: “And he said, ‘oh, no, I’d have a cappuccino at 11:00 at night just to wind the Dallara people up and annoy the Ferrari people.’ And you can think, coming from a team principal, that’s actually quite funny.”

Las Vegas will be a critical weekend for Haas

There are three rounds to go in the world championship, and Haas are looking to overturn a three-point deficit to Alpine.

The American team may be running a low-downforce rear wing and downforce configuration, similar to Ferrari and Sauber.

This should help them when attacking on defending on the Las Vegas Strip although it may affect them negatively when braking.

A good result would help their chances and they have been quicker than Alpine recently despite the French team’s double podium last time out.