Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu is confident problems with the team’s bodywork will be addressed in time for next weekend’s Australian Grand Prix after admitted the team was “too aggressive” with its 2025 design.
Esteban Ocon lost the cover to his car’s right sidepod during the team’s first filming day of the year in Silverstone, and Oliver Bearman had to return to the pits during pre-season testing when part of the engine cover on the left side of the car detached. Komatsu says the failures were due to the team’s design approach with the VF-25, as it looked to find as much performance possible from its bodywork.
“It’s just that we were too aggressive, we know the reason why,” Komatsu said. “So we will just fix it for Melbourne. But it’s not great, obviously. We had it on the filming day, we had it morning. It shouldn’t happen. The modification we made compared to last year was just too aggressive.”
Despite his straightforward analysis of the situation, Komatsu says the impact is one that he is frustrated about, given there is so little pre-season testing during which Haas was trying to prepare two new drivers.
“The first two days were pretty good,” he told SiriusXM. “But then morning wasn’t great. Seriously, we had this bodywork issue that really had a significant impact on Ollie’s running. And then that bodywork issue meant that, I would say, 75% of the morning the car wasn’t in a representative state. No matter what work you do, it’s not the right car. So that wasn’t great.
“We managed to put that right for the afternoon, so all the work Esteban did in the afternoon is representative. But if you lose one out of six sessions, it’s big. But it happened, we’ve just got to fix it for Australia, which I have full confidence in.”
Although Haas will have work to do ahead of the trip to Melbourne, Komatsu believes it has the pace to fight with the likes of Williams and Alpine, two teams that caught his eye as potential frontrunners within the midfield pack.
“Williams looks quick; Alpine looks quick as well. I don’t know. I think we are in the ballpark. I don’t know accurately exactly where we are. I think we are in the fight. It’s a mixture, it’s so tight… but at least I think we are in the mixture somewhere.”
