Guenther Steiner has left his role as Team Principal at Haas Team with immediate effect, as he is replaced by Director of Engineering Ayao Komatsu.
Steiner had been Haas’ only Team Principal up to this point, having been in the position since 2014, two years before the team’s first race. This came after talks with team owner Gene Haas over the winter, where it was ultimately decided that Steiner’s contract would not be renewed.
During his time at Haas, the team were able to achieve a best position of 5th during the 2018 season, though the team most recently finished last in the 2023 constructor’s standings.
Steiner had also grown to become a fan favourite on Netflix’s Drive to Survive, having featured prominently in all seasons of the documentary series so far.
Speaking on Steiner’s departure, Gene Haas commented ““I’d like to start by extending my thanks to Guenther Steiner for all his hard work over the past decade and I wish him well for the future,” before explaining his reasoning on Komatsu’s promotion to Team Principal.
“Moving forward as an organization it was clear we need to improve our on-track performances. In appointing Ayao Komatsu as Team Principal we fundamentally have engineering at the heart of our management.
“We have had some successes, but we need to be consistent in delivering results that help us reach our wider goals as an organization.”
Komatsu has also stated that he is “naturally very excited to have the opportunity to be Team Principal at MoneyGram Haas F1 Team”, and that he is “looking forward to leading our program and the various competitive operations internally to ensure we can build a structure that produces improved on-track performances.”
Komatsu will also be supported by a Chief Operating Officer who has yet to be appointed, overseeing all the non-competition related responsibilities at the team, a position which is expected to be based at the team’s Banbury facility.
Komatsu’s first test as Team Principal won’t take place for another 7 weeks with the Bahrain Grand Prix taking place from the 29th of February to the 2nd of March.
