Hi, Kevin! What’s up? How’s your new boss?

“He’s nice! Ayao is our new team principal, but for most of us, he’s a familiar face in the organization. He was already a trackside engineering director when I joined the team in 2017, so I know him extremely well and have worked closely with him for several seasons. He replaced Guenther, who had been an important part of my career and took me on the journey which I appreciated and still do. That said, in our situation it’s been refreshing to get a new leadership and a new set of eyes on things and from a driver’s perspective it’s also positive to have a new principal that you already know quite well.”

What has changed?

“It’s difficult to pinpoint one specific area. But Ayao is an engineer and getting an engineer’s mindset on the front of the leadership is interesting. At Haas it has changed the dynamic and the communication across the whole team, I think it’s been motivating for the team crew to have someone leading the team who they can go and talk to and feel understood. They’re talking to an engineer with recent experience of chief race engineering, so I think that creates a different dynamic in the team. It feels like everyone’s kind of talking more to each other and I think the team is more united in a way so far. Our biggest issue last season was to manage the tires during the race, so at the pre-season testing in Bahrain we were only focusing on race runs and high-fuel performance. It was a different approach to tackle the season, but it seemed to pay off.”

It’s been a promising start for you so far, scoring points and being able to fight against the upper middle field. How does that affect the spirit in the team?

“The spirit is pretty good. I think the people like to see a change, both in terms of performance and when it comes to this new leadership. I don’t believe anyone had anything against Guenther, he was like family to most of us in the team. But at the end of the day, we are here to compete and create results, and we have not had that progression that we were hoping for, and every member of the team is a part of that, and everyone needs to step up. Having an engineer at the helm in a sport that’s so technically driven and where you need to develop effectively and technically – that’s going to create a change and I think it already has.”

Before the season opener in Bahrain, it seemed like Ayao Komatsu did his best to keep the expectations low?

“It’s better to surprise than to disappoint, and that was Ayao’s way of managing expectations. I think we have handled that much better than earlier seasons where we perhaps were too optimistic about our performance. Ayao was very clear, he didn’t see us moving out from last position immediately, but he was also clear that he saw the development as stronger, optimistic. The entire field is so close together and I think last year we completely ran into a wall in terms of development. We couldn’t really break that barrier until we shifted the concept, and this year is looking a lot better. But yes, you’re right, expectations were low to begin with but high for the season as a whole. The entire field is so close together, and I think last year we completely ran into a wall in terms of development. We’re there or thereabouts in the races again, so that’s encouraging and gives some hope for coming races that we can be in the hunt for points.”

Sounds good! Twenty-four Grands Prix in 2024 make it the busiest season ever. Which races do you look forward to as a team?

“We’re an American-owned team with an American title sponsor, so the races in Miami, Austin, and Las Vegas are the most important for us throughout the whole year. We aim for points in every race, but the three American races are just that a bit more important. There’s always extra anticipation, extra pressure, and extra happiness when we do well there – scoring points on home soil is something special. I think it’s clear why they’re important for Formula 1 also. The US market is the newest market that Formula 1 has penetrated. All the new fans over there means the races are very hyped, so they are very important races for everyone, not just us.”

Thanks Kevin, and good luck at Imola!