Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu will be delighted with how the Australian Grand Prix ended for his team, but he still identified several mistakes the team made that could have scuppered their race.
Expectations were set extremely low for Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen heading into the 2024 Formula 1 season.
However, speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the race in Melbourne, Komatsu praised his team’s efforts before explaining that things could have gone even better on Sunday.
Ayao Komatsu explains Haas mistakes at Australian Grand Prix
Heading into this season, Gene Haas decided to replace popular team boss Guenther Steiner with Ayao Komatsu.
The 48-year-old comes from an engineering background and before pre-season testing even started he suggested that development on this year’s car started too late.
Haas were one of the slowest cars in Bahrain before the first race of the season and looked set to be challenging Alpine to see who had the worst car on the grid.
Fast forward to Jeddah and Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin was lodged firmly in the wall.
It suddenly opened up an opportunity for the slowest five teams and Haas grabbed it with both hands.
Magnussen did the hard work creating a gap for Hulkenberg to exploit and score the team’s first point.
Fast forward to Melbourne and some more tactical driving – this time from the German – saw them secure a brilliant double-point finish.
However, Komatsu has explained that mistakes were still made by the team during the Australian Grand Prix.
With that section of the grid so tightly packed, any significant error can be costly.
Just ask Valtteri Bottas to talk you through his latest lengthy pit stop…
Ayao Komatsu reflects on successful outing in Melbourne
Talking about the race, Komatsu said: “If I’m honest, our race operation wasn’t completely perfect, we still could have done some things better.
“But honestly, I’m so happy. Kevin’s first pit stop, that strategy wasn’t right, so that’s something we’ve got to look into.
“I mean it’s the same as Bahrain, we can’t keep making those mistakes but honestly for the whole team I’m so happy.
“These guys always work so, they leave nothing undone, I’m so happy.”
There were some big calls that the strategists needed to make up and down the grid and Haas weren’t the only team who didn’t get theirs completely right.
Lando Norris was left rueing McLaren’s decision to pit him five laps later than Charles Leclerc.
The Monegasque driver undercut him and even after being let through by Oscar Piastri, the Brit couldn’t retake second place.
The biggest strategy call was arguably made by Williams before qualifying when they handed Logan Sargeant’s chassis to Alex Albon after the Thai driver destroyed his during practice.
That gamble nearly paid off, but it was two Haas drivers that prevented him from scoring his first point of the season.
Haas head to Japanese Grand Prix in surprisingly strong position
Few Formula 1 fans would have expected to see Haas off the mark after three races given how poor their race pace was in 2023.
However, they appear to have made giant strides forward in improving their tyre management which plagued their performances last season.
Nico Hulkenberg is a very strong qualifier and in a car that can sustain a challenge for more than a few laps might regularly be challenging for minor points.
There are question marks over Kevin Magnussen’s future but for now, he’s doing enough to give Haas something to think about when it comes to his contract renewal.
Both drivers will know that Oliver Bearman is looming in the background hoping for a race seat for 2025.
The post ‘Wasn’t completely perfect’: Ayao Komatsu laments key Haas ‘mistakes’ despite double-points finish appeared first on F1 Oversteer.