Ayao Komatsu may be an expert in technology, but when it comes to topics such as marketing and politics, the new Haas team boss prefers to get help from others
“I was surprised,” admits Ayao Komatsu when he received the call from team owner Gene Haas at the end of last year that he was to become the new team principal of the eponymous racing team and follow in the footsteps of Günther Steiner
While Komatsu had often spoken to Haas about how to take the team forward, his promotion to team principal had never been on the agenda. “I didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do,” says the Japanese driver. “But he wanted to promote someone internally.”
Komatsu was the logical candidate for Haas, as he is one of the people who has been involved with the team from the very beginning and therefore knows it inside out.
Komatsu is also continuing a trend that has become increasingly apparent in recent years: That good people from engineering backgrounds are being pulled up the ranks instead of helping themselves to people with business backgrounds. James Vowles (Williams), Andrea Stella (McLaren) and Laurent Mekies (AlphaTauri) are current examples of this.
However, this usually means a completely new area of responsibility for them. Although they have a lot to offer technically, serving the commercial or political side is yet another challenge – and one that can also lead to failure. Ferrari’s Mattia Binotto is one such case, and in the end perhaps too much was placed on his shoulders.
“There are, of course, areas that I am more familiar with,” says Komatsu. “I’m less familiar with other areas, such as commercial and marketing.”
He also said this to Gene Haas and told him that he didn’t see any point in concentrating on marketing and attracting sponsors, something that Steiner might have been able to do before him. “That’s not where my skills lie,” he says.
“I need someone else who is an expert in this area. And then I can focus on the technical side and improve that.” The same applies to the political side: “I will definitely need some help with that too. But Gene is willing to help us on this side.”
Komatsu therefore does not want to run Haas single-handedly, but rather work with people from different areas to get the best out of the team. “It is necessary for everyone to perform in their area of expertise. And I feel that my job is to create this environment. “
At least it reassures him a little when he looks at the work of other team bosses who have taken a similar path to his. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years in different teams. I know James [Vowles] from my Honda days, I know Laurent [Mekies] from his Ferrari days, and I know Alessandro [Alunni Bravi] from his time at Lotus.”
“So I know a few guys and that helps a bit,” said Komatsu. “But I don’t know what I don’t know. I’m not sitting here pretending to know how to deal with all this either. I don’t know, but I’m doing the best I can. “
