Guenther Steiner makes shock Haas F1 departure،
Guenther Steiner, popular star of the Formula 1 docuseries Drive to Survive, has left Haas after eight seasons in charge of the American team.
Steiner had led Gene Haas' team since joining the championship in 2016.
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The Italian, who has become a cult figure in F1 in recent years thanks to his outspokenness and frankness, left Haas after Haas' last-place finish in the constructors' championship last season.
Technical director Simone Resta, who joined Ferrari in 2021, also left the team.
Japan's Ayao Komatsu has been promoted to director of track engineering to replace Steiner, meaning 2024 will be his first time in charge of an F1 team.
Team owner Gene Haas said he views Komatsu's experience as key to reviving the team's competitiveness.
“I would like to start by thanking Guenther Steiner for all his hard work over the past decade and wish him good luck for the future,” said the team owner.
“To move forward as an organization, it was clear that we needed to improve our on-track performance. By appointing Ayao Komatsu, we fundamentally placed engineering at the heart of our management.
“We have had some successes, but we need to be consistent in delivering results that help us achieve our broader goals as an organization. We must be efficient with the resources we have, but improving our design and engineering capabilities is key to our success as a team.
“I look forward to working with Ayao and fundamentally ensuring that we maximize our potential. It really reflects my desire to compete properly in Formula 1.”
Haas will soon appoint a European-based operations director to assist Komatsu, whose team said in a statement Tuesday will “assume responsibility for the team's overall strategy and, ultimately, on-track performance , with the mission of maximizing performance.” team potential through employee empowerment, structural processes and efficiency.
Komatsu was a long-time racing engineer for Romain Grosjean, first at Lotus, before following the Frenchman to Haas when he joined the start-up team in 2016.
The Japan native began his career as a tire engineer at British American Racing (BAR) in 2003, before joining Renault (later Lotus) in 2005.
