F1 News: Guenther Steiner Receives Backlash From His Replacement - 'Not A Bulls**t Smokescreen'

Saajan Jogia | Apr 5, 2024

Oct 22, 2022; Austin, Texas, USA; Haas Formula One Team engineer Guenther Steiner is interviewed / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner faced criticism from his successor, Ayao Komatsu, when he suggested that the current team boss had lowered the team's expectations on purpose this season, basing his argument on the VF-24's wind tunnel data. Komatsu firmly responded to Steiner's remarks by disagreeing and explaining his stance on the matter.

Key Takeaways:

• Former Haas principal Guenther Steiner faced criticism from his successor, Ayao Komatsu, over allegations that Komatsu intentionally lowered team expectations for the 2024 season based on wind tunnel data.
• Steiner implied that Komatsu's strategy aimed to show gradual improvement, despite Haas's struggles during pre-season testing.
• Komatsu defended his approach, stating he tempered expectations to prevent disappointment among team members, considering Haas's previous 10th position in the Constructors' Standings in 2023.

Steiner implied that Komatsu deliberately downplayed expectations during pre-season testing to portray gradual improvement, pointing to wind tunnel data during the SF-24's development phase which indicated that the team would be where it is at present, performance-wise.

Oct 22, 2022; Austin, Texas, USA; Haas Formula One Team engineer Guenther Steiner is interviewed / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

With Haas's recent trajectory, expectations weren't notably high, particularly after news of Steiner's departure during the winter break. The team's performance during pre-season testing didn't match up to the competition's standards. However, after three races into the 2024 season, the American outfit has managed to secure the seventh spot in the Constructors' Standings with four points.

Reacting to Steiner's comments ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, Komatsu told the media:

"It wasn't bullshit or putting up a smokescreen.

“When we did pre-season testing, after day one, day two, looking at our long run pace, I thought we could fight against maybe two or three other teams.

 “I didn't know exactly about how much, but somewhere around P8, P7.

“But yeah, I only knew that once we started running. And also in terms of, let's say, downforce we generate from the car - it's very different from what wind tunnel says.

“That within itself is a problem. But part of it is a good surprise. Could I predict that, looking at the wind tunnel number? No way.

“And knowing that number, I'm sorry, but it's not a big number. So, there's no way I would have thought that would be good enough for P7. No way. Then how can you expect to do what they did? Would you predict that? No.

“Then you cannot bank on somebody messing it up, you’ve got to assume they are doing a good job.”

Ayao Komatsu - Haas / Haas Press Image

Komatsu admitted that he intentionally lowered expectations to prevent disappointment among team members, just in case Haas continued to struggle in the 10th position it held in 2023. He added:

“Internally as well, I don't want my people to see the car Bahrain in P10, and then get depressed and get the heads down.

“Because I just wanted to make sure, 'You guys know what you're doing, you just didn't have enough time to put enough performance on the car - it's not your fault if we are P10 in Bahrain.’

“That's the internal message I just wanted to be clear. So I needed to prepare my guys that for Bahrain, when we are last, they don't get depressed about it.

“Then they’ve got the grounds to say, 'Okay, this is where we're going to start, this is where we're going to improve.’"