The Haas Formula 1 team is looking to expand in order to provide a bit of much-needed respite for the small team, but it might have a problem.

The UK talent pool is already facing strain in terms of personnel, and with the arrival of Cadillac’s much-hyped F1 program, Haas‘ pool of options may become even smaller.

Cadillac F1 adds strain to tapped UK motorsport market

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Ayao Komatsu, team principal appointed to the Haas Formula 1 team ahead of the 2024 season, has a problem.

Of all the Formula 1 teams that contested this season, Haas is the smallest in terms of personnel. Unlike big-budget outfits like Red Bull or Mercedes, the American team has largely operated with as few people as it can manage.

Now that Komatsu is in charge, Haas is evolving. The crew currently working for the team has transformed Haas from a back-of-the-field outfit to one that has been legitimately quick and in contention for points. Now imagine what it could do with a much larger slate of talent.

“We are trying to grow, but recruitment is hard, and finding good people is not easy,” told media in Abu Dhabi, including PlanetF1.com.

“But there’s no doubt we need to grow. You know, we’re below critical mass, shall I say. We’re just about to be saturated all the time, and anything happens, we’re completely overflowing.

“That’s not sustainable. I want to make this thing sustainable. We’re want to be able to operate, let’s say normal operation, with some margin.

“At the moment, I feel very, very little margin.”

That margin is hugely important. Komatsu called back to a time this season where a few mechanics were injured, meaning replacements needed to be brought in from the UK.

“Every time something happens, you have to send somebody out from UK,” he explained. “But then that means that this UK operation is already on edge, so taking this guy out means they’re gonna be even more on edge.

“That drains people. That really rocks people hard. For me, it’s not fair to ask such an extra effort, so we’ve got to increase the size.”

The whole plan is to be able to “look after people better.”

But the problem with recruitment Komatsu says, is that there are so many UK-based Formula 1 teams that trying to source UK-based talent can be incredibly tough. The best engineers, designers, and technicians have probably already been snapped up by Red Bull, Mercedes, Aston Martin, McLaren, Williams, or even Alpine.

And that’s only becoming more difficult with the addition of the Cadillac F1 team.

More on Haas’ evolution:

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Though Cadillac F1 intends to have satellite outfits in America, the team’s primary operation will be located in the United Kingdom. And that means an already-stressed talent pool is going to become even more tapped out.

“I don’t know if it’s only Cadillac,” Komatsu said, “but it’s hard to recruit in the UK because you’ve got so much competition.

“We are finding some good people, some positions, actually finding good people. Some positions is really hard.”

Still, there’s hope that Haas’ drastically improved performance this year will serve as an attraction to prospective talent.

“Hopefully people see now what we’re doing this year and think, OK, Haas is really serious. We are here for a long time. We are improving, and hopefully our people think it’s a good chance to be part of,” Komatsu told media.

Per Komatsu, there’s less concern about incoming operations like Audi due to their location in other countries. Plus, there have been some inspiring signs that Haas’ profile is growing.

“We actually get people coming from much bigger teams like Mercedes and Red Bull,” he admitted.

“We are a much smaller team, so it’s hard work. You’ve got to do a lot more. But certain things are better, right? It just depends on the personality.

“If you are somebody who just wants to be given, ‘This is your job, this is what you have to do as best as possible, then we are a race-winning team.’ If that’s what he or she likes, they will go for that big team.

“But if he or she wants to have a bigger overview or wants to me more multi-tasking — it depends on the personality. So again, we got to make sure we have the right personality that fits the organization.”

How will Cadillac’s arrival influence the already-stressed talent pool? It’s difficult to say; the novelty may present a compelling challenge to personnel on existing teams, or it may serve as a deterrent. But Haas will certainly want to get its positions filled as quickly as possible.

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