Formula 1 teams have enjoyed a largely uninterrupted pre-season test in Bahrain to prepare for the 2025 season yet Karun Chandhok feels one team boss is ‘concerned’.
A power cut saw the lights go out at the Bahrain International Circuit on Day One and a rain shower broke up the action on Day Two. But the Bahrain Grand Prix track has seen McLaren emerge with the fastest car at F1 testing, edging Ferrari and Mercedes in the pecking order.
The midfield fight also looks set to be a close affair going into the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 16. Aston Martin, Alpine, Haas, Racing Bulls, Williams and Sauber will all have their eyes set on being the best of the rest behind the top four teams in Melbourne.
Karun Chandhok thinks Haas boss Ayao Komatsu is ‘concerned’ after their staff changes
Haas and Sauber have also changed their entire driver line-ups for the new campaign. Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon have taken over from Nico Hulkenberg plus Kevin Magnussen at Haas. Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto replaced Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu at Sauber.
The changes also extended to their technical department at Haas, after race engineers Gary Gannon and Mark Slade both left the American squad. Gannon and Slade decided to depart following the 2024 Formula 1 season, with the former signing for Aston Martin this January.
READ MORE: All to know about Haas F1 Team from team principal to Ferrari and Toyota ties
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu hired Laura Mueller as Ocon’s race engineer and Ronan O’Hare will work with Bearman. Haas have also hired Francesco Nenci to be their chief race engineer. Carine Cridelich joins from Racing Bulls as Haas’ head of race strategy on March 1.
But Chandhok feels Komatsu is ‘concerned’ by having to get Haas’ new hires to work as one. The Sky Sports F1 pundit also thinks it is ‘not ideal’ that Komatsu was not been able to coax staff from other rival teams despite Haas working at F1’s cost cap for the first time this year.
“They’ve got an entire new engineering office,” Chandhok outlined on Sky Sports F1 (27/02, 15:35). “Two new race engineers, new chief engineer, new chief strategist and I think he is concerned about getting all of them to work and sing from the same hymn sheet.
“I think they’ve struggled a little bit to recruit from outside. They lost Gary Gannon, Mark Slade is no longer there and I think they’ve struggled to recruit new, experienced people.
“They’ve had to promote relatively inexperienced people from within the team into senior roles, which is, I think, not ideal and is the cause for some nervousness there.
“I think they were looking to get people from other teams with F1 experience and haven’t been able to do that – maybe because nowadays teams are quite protective in terms of gardening leave time. You can’t get anyone with less than 12-18 months gardening leave.”
Ayao Komatsu filled new positions with Haas operating at F1’s cost cap for the first time
Komatsu had a major job on his hands to rebuild Haas’ technical departments ahead of the 2025 season with team manager Peter Crolla also leaving. Mark Lowe has become sporting director at Haas, who will hope their new race engineers can help Bearman and Ocon shine.
Gannon joined Haas back in 2015 and worked with Romain Grosjean, Mick Schumacher and Hulkenberg. He has now taken over the role of senior race engineer for Lance Stroll at Aston Martin. Mueller steps in as Ocon’s race engineer to be the first female to hold the role in F1.
Both Mueller and Bearman’s race engineer O’Hare, who was previously their performance engineer, mark internal promotions at Haas. The appointments of Nenci and Lowe are also the results of Haas operating at F1’s cost cap after Komatsu tempted Toyota to return to F1.
The extra investment that Toyota provides as a technical partner alongside their increased income from sponsors means owner Gene Haas no longer needs to use his own money to fund the £807m-valued Haas F1 team – the least-valuable out of the 10 crews on the grid.
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