Gene Haas says he no longer wants to be “humiliated every weekend” and wants to see further changes to his Formula 1 team’s aerodynamic department, following the departures of Guenther Steiner and Simone Resta.
Steiner was replaced as team principal on Wednesday, with Haas making the surprise move of promoted director of track engineering Ayao Komatsu into the role. Technical director Resta has also left — although RACER understands that decision had already been made prior to Steiner’s departure — and the team owner says there was a clear area where Haas needs to improve.
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“I think we’ve actually got a great formula here,” Haas told the official Formula 1 website. “We have Ferrari engines which probably have more power than anybody right now. We have Ferrari hardware, we have a good chassis. I talk to a lot of the engineers and I think our biggest failing is aero; our aero program needs work. When you’re at the track and you’re humiliated every weekend, I’m going to stop taking that one anymore.”
Haas says the decision to part ways with Steiner, who has led the team since its inception a decade ago, was solely down to results after finishing at the bottom of the constructors’ championship in 2023.
“It came down to performance. Here we are in our eighth year, over 160 races — we have never had a podium. The last couple of years we’ve been 10th or ninth [sic — Haas was eighth in 2022].
“I’m not sitting here saying it’s Guenther’s fault or anything like that, but it just seems like this was an appropriate time to make a change and try a different direction, because it doesn’t seem like continuing with what we had is really going to work.
“It is [hard], I like Guenther — he’s a really nice person, a really good personality. We had a tough end to the year. I don’t understand that, I really don’t. Those are good questions to ask Guenther, what went wrong. At the end of the day, it’s about performance. I have no interest in being 10th anymore.
“We need to do better. It’s easier to keep sponsors and attract sponsors if we’re a mid-pack team and not a dead last team. That’s my perspective on it. At the same time, if we can run a little faster, we’ll get more FOM [Formula One Management] money, which will make life a bit easier.
“It’s really all about winning. We have a great team, we have great engines, we have really great drivers. There’s no reason why we are 10th. I can’t understand how we can be with all the equipment and people we have.”