Haas enjoyed an excellent turnaround in 2024 as they went from being F1 backmarkers to midfield contenders in the space of less than a year.
The work done by new boss and former engineer Ayao Komatsu has been central to their rise, helping to rectify their car’s tyre-eating issues.
Haas finished two positions better off in the Constructors’ Championship last season compared to the year prior, and would have been sixth had it not been for Alpine’s late rise.
Komatsu was stunned by the incredible feat Haas managed, watching on as they turned up to most weekends with a car capable of competing for points.
They enter 2025 with a new driver pairing, as Formula 1 race winner Esteban Ocon joins young Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman.
Haas plans to use Bearman in their testing of previous cars programme (TPC) for the first time in their history – a directive issued by the sport after Red Bull and Max Verstappen tested a two-year-old car to their advantage last year.
Romain Grosjean produced the ‘best drive’ Ayao Komatsu has ever witnessed in F1
10 years ago Formula 1 was a very different landscape to how it is now. Before a period of rapid growth, there was less money around and more reliance on sponsors.
In 2015, Lotus had got themselves into a dispute and had their assets locked up on the orders of the court at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Romain Grosjean didn’t let the weekend go down the pan though, and stormed to a heroic third-place finish on the Sunday, handing them their best result of that season.
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Current Haas boss Komatsu was Grosjean’s engineer at the time and reflected on how impressive he was that day.
“Best race was Romain Grosjean in Spa 2015. Because Spa that weekend we started it not knowing if we could race or not because we had issues with the top management. I think we were sued by Charouz,” he said.
“So everything when we turned up on Wednesday morning was locked up. So we started the weekend not knowing if we could run the car.
“So going from that on our knees to Sunday and Romain giving us the podium. I remember thinking at the time that it was the best drive I’ve seen. Going from not being able to race to giving us a podium, that was an amazing moment.”
What happened to Romain Grosjean and Ayao Komatsu’s F1 partnership after 2015?
Lotus were eventually bought out and transformed into a fully works Renault team (now Alpine) ahead of the 2016 season.
Grosjean left for the all-new Haas outfit, and his race engineer followed him. It was a promotion for the Japanese engineer who became the director of trackside engineering.
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They continued to work together until 2020 when the Frenchman left Formula 1 after suffering a horrific accident at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
He raced full-time in IndyCar until 2024 and is now a reserve driver for PREMA’s first season in North American single-seater racing in 2025.
Komatsu has continued to ascend and is now the team principal at Haas, who are trending in a positive direction and could contend for a better position in both championships this year.
