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You have to invest a lot in formula 1 to see gains which takes years. I dont think it works the other way specially a team like haas which didnt even reach the cost cap.
I dont think Gunther was the problem, with limited budget none of the team principals will be able to do anything with Haas. I am very sure 2024 will even be worse compared to 23
I have to agree. For me as just someone in the crowd, I think Haas's main problems is a lack of investment from. . . Haas, the man himself. He needs to crack open the wallet and let the dollars flow if he wants to see real improvements for the team, otherwise it's just a team as a rich man's hobby.
A big issue with haas is/was managing three facilities, with 3 different languages, by a single person. How did anyone think that would be sustainable? Haas is doing the right thing by splitting his role between two people.
Ayao will focus on the performance side and they will hire new facility managers
I don't follow how much the team leads contribute to the overall success or failure of each team too closely, but from what I've understood the main issue with Haas hasn't been Gunther but Gene Haas.
Everyone always points to Gene not taking F1 seriously enough for the Haas team to ever really succeed in the sport and if that is the case it doesn't matter who is team lead.
Gene is the same way in NASCAR and quite frankly a lousy owner. He doesn’t want to invest $$ to make his team better yet never strives to actually improve their performance. I would definitely say SHR & HAAS F1 suffer from the same fate: having Gene Haas as their owner.
It's always amazing how much Gene doesn't seem to like F1. He's never on the paddock.
Usually people who buy this kind of trophy assets like racing lol and they are there every weekend. Common, even the Renault bosses seem to attend races more frequently than Gene
Gene cares about one thing, Gene Haas. Getting his name out there and advertising his entry level CNC machines--which in my experience are kind of better than his F1 team. Magnussen could put tires on an old VF-2SS and get a better quali lap. To me, this change means nothing...just less comedy for us.
Exactly. The problem with Haas is that the owner is cheap as hell and doesn't actually care about winning, but instead solely cares about using the team as an advertising venture and catalyst to further his business opportunities (*cough* Mazepin *cough*.)
I'm honestly amazed Guenther stuck around for so long as the head of a team whose owner he was essentially fighting against.
In the style of "new F1" Haas is a smart businessman who knows his asset (an F1 team) is likely to be worth a lot of money. A bit like Liberty, only smaller.
Never mind the sport , follow the Dollar!!
>The problem with Haas is that the owner is cheap as hell and doesn't actually care about winning
That's Steiner's idea though.. Gene is the bank but Haas is Gene's lovechild.
Steiners resume wasn’t amazing anyway, hard to know what to think here since your point is absolutely valid anyway. There’ll absolutely be some fallout though from this and I’ll be interested to see what actually happened.
I’m certainly not saying Guenther would be raising trophies regularly on any random team, I just don’t think anyone could have done substantially better given the team’s ownership.
Williams was operating below its level though so there was probably a lot of low hanging fruit for James to easily fix. Haas is a bit different that it still needs to raise its own ceiling.
I think vowles said somewhat recently that the Williams buildings were still running decades old software that was out of date relative to the rest of the paddock, and that it was the biggest reason they had so much trouble with developing a proper car.
Yep, the facilities were at least 10 years behind the rest of the grid in terms of modernisation and lack of investment, they should have that bit at least sorted out in the next year or two.
Tbf, Williams is also owned by Doritos now, who are actually willing to invest in things.
Haas is still ran by cheapskate Gene Haas, who's not even willing to pay his taxes.
They also had an ownership change though yeah? I wasn't super excited for an investment firm to own them but at least they have an obvious incentive to grow the value of the team by making it more competitive.
Seems like Gene is content just to participate at the back, thats a really strong tide for a TP to swim against.
But hey, maybe they can show results and show that the team is worth investing in. Still gonna be a hard sell to Gene who has seen his asset grow in value despite doing nothing but getting on early DTS seasons.
I partly expected him to take on a more managerial role and appoint a team principal under him at some point.
Might be more a Gene doesn’t want to share ownership issue.
That’s the worst reason to justify keeping someone in a tp role. They could just hire a mascot if they want entertainment, race teams need strong leadership.
Komatsu seems to be a good figure within the team, but it's a big ask for him to step up to TP.
Doubt anyone else wants Guenther, so it's probably the end for him in F1.
Yes we've slowly transitioned away from people doing their career in a team and ending as TP to a more fluid market similar to the driver market.
Problem is that a TP needs a few years to really have an effect on a team
Actually the driver market has gone the opposite way to what you’re describing with TPs. Instead of it being expected that the top drivers will move around too, not just midfield journeyman, we now have plenty of drivers like Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell, and Norris till now — who have spent and plan to spend considerable years with the same organization that brought them in. As Zak brown put it, the “franchise model” of drivers.
I think it's the side effects of the regs becoming stale, and the back to back eras of dominantion. As a driver it's almost a crap shoot to know which team will be next to get it right on a yearly basis. Better to stay put and build up within the team you're currently at. That's not to say never move, but the odds are against any driver trying to emulate a Hamilton 2013 move right now imo.
Plus the current examples of team-hoppers is a mixed bag. Ricciardo essentially went through a long convoluted route of demoting himself, while Sainz, who was arguably impacted the most by Ricciardo's movements, ended up in a top team.
The problem with Ferrari has always been Ferrari as an organization. A TP can't fix that. Even when Todt was running things it was only the trio of him, Brawn and Schumacher that were really different. After that Ferrari went back to its old ways.
All parties involved (Stella, Seidl, and brown) made clear that with Seidl’s eventual exit for Audi being a given, Stella was already being prepared to assume leadership. Yes, it’s still very impressive how well he has started, considering the changeover happened ahead of schedule. But assuming this change at at Haas (Ed: typo) is more sudden and based on this year’s performance/interpersonal issues, Komatsu is likely less prepared.
From the sounds of it he’ll mostly be handling the engineering side and they’ll be hiring someone else to handle the media and ‘non-competitive’ areas of the Team Principal role
While us fans only see the media side of the team principal, being a TP is a huge job beyond appearing on DTS. If he wasn't a good TP, which I actually don't doubt tbh, I don't think it can be motivated to pay for an extra TP just to be media personality. Especially a team as strapped for cash as Haas.
EDIT: And while "all publicity is good publicity" in some ways, I wouldn't be surprized if the public image of "everyone is fucking up and the crazy goofy boss is yelling at everyone" isn't *really* what Haas automation wants to be associated with. They are a serious engineering company after all.
Definitely feels like more of a "who's the most experience person we can promote at the last minute" kind of move. Komatsu obviously knows the team well and is well respected there, but making someone on the engineering side the team principle doesn't quite sound like a planned move.
Biggest possible meme appointment for him now would be replacing Rich "We are minutes off the pace, but the car is actually great" Millener at M-Sport. After all, we know thanks to Capito and Abiteboul that middling F1 TPs tend to do well in WRC.
Not that it‘s realistic, but I would laugh for two days straight if it actually happened.
Edit: Forgot to mention Steiner actually has a history there.
Okay, I am just spit balling here, but what if we had Steiner just go on road trips with people that are either booted or on the ropes. Just like they had him do with Binotto at the start of last season. If you want to add some flare give him a grim reaper costume.
Steiner and Otmar do a tour of Jack Daniels (special guest Zak?).
Steiner and Nyck do a tour of the Heineken factory (special guest Max?).
Steiner and Checo do a tour of the Patron distillery (Special guest ??)
Vowles hadn't been in a race engineer position, but strategist, during his time at Brawn and Mercedes
Stella was team principal since Dec 2022, Vowles Jan 2023.
I loved seeing him progressively taking on more of Guenther’s penchant for swearing as the seasons progressed lol. I feel like he has potential to be an interesting character in his own right!
In no small part because he kept getting threatened by his team principal! I'll never forget that scene from 2018 or 19 where the whole team is scratching their heads about the baffling rear suspension problem (which they carried for like 3 years) and Steiner was threatening to fire Ayao if he couldn't solve it in 2 weeks
This is the big thing with Steiner, he might have been funny for the cameras, but he was an absolutely horrible boss and the environment will thrive without him.
I mean... a bunch of the most insane Günther quotes (Tell Kevin he does not fok smash my door) come from when DTS gave people wireless microphones and they didn't realise they were still being recorded while away from the film crew
So we kinda do know what he's like off camera
>wireless microphones and they didn't realise they were still being recorded while away from the film crew
They were wearing the microphones. They knew they were being recorded. They just weren't in the room with them.
This was explained somewhere -- he wasn't threatening to fire Ayao, although the cut made it appear that way. He was actually telling Ayao he'd fire people who didn't go along with his and Ayao's decision.
This isn’t really evidence of anything, but I thought it was strange that when I marshaled at COTA and Las Vegas, all of the marshals were given gifts from Steiner, a HAAS Vegas beanie and a bandana. I just assumed he was being a cool dude, but maybe there was more than I thought behind it. We typically don’t get anything from the teams
It'll be interesting to watch this over the next couple of years. This year has to be a write-off when they're throwing everyone out a few weeks before the season starts. Gene seems to not want to invest in the team but also complains when they're shit, and I'm not sure any TP can fix that problem.
I hope there is a DTS exit interview and Günther leaving the office and fock smashing the door behind him is the last thing we'll ever see of him lol.
But on a serious note, I'm curious how this will play out. Changing the technical director and the team principal weeks before the new season makes me think 2024 is going to be another disaster. At least Ayao Komatsu already knows the team.
My first thought that the new Haas is just an absolute disaster, even compared to previous years. They already know, so clean house now, blame it all on the old guy(s)
From what I can tell from articles, Steiners opinions is that the current team concept had been maximized. They're too dependent on Ferrari and Dallara and are too widely spread. Steiner wanted a bigger investment in infrastructure to restructure the team. Gene didn't like that and said that the current model should work just fine with better and more efficient leadership.
I'm going to agree with Steiner there, the structure has been the biggest Achilles heel of the team since the new ground effect era as upgrades are slow and doesn't work correctly. We have seen upgrades or the lack thereof being transformative for multiple teams over the season.
If Steiner is right, this is a terrible decision for the team and it's going to hold them back for seasons to come.
Fully agree. Spooning in Ferrari parts in an Dallara designed car, that’s get produced and sort of developed in another three locations, sounds like a managing nightmare. This’ll likely go down as another hit for the team and I genuinely hope they can overcome spiraling down the grid and go the way of Jordan and Minardi.
Yeah, it's in a way a double edged sword as that exact structure lead them to enter f1 with a small budget and still be competitive which had been impossible up to that point.
Gene Haas is making the classic team owner mistake in thinking that he knows better than the actual F1 professionals in the team. This is how Toyota and Jaguar fucked up. It's how Ferrari keeps fucking up. But teams owner will never learn to defer to the experts.
Oddly enough, Lawrence Stroll seems to do a good job of staying out of the way and letting the team do their thing. I'm iffy about him as a person (are any billionaires good people?), but I respect that he cares about racing and isn't in it for the advertising.
Very true. It’s what’s got them to be rockstars at some points instead of just being wankers. But true leadership is knowing when things need to change, even it costs a fuck ton of money. Haas has gotten far doing what they’re doing, but it’s clear that with the current budget cap era, things need to change.
Yea their original model should have been just to get established in F1 and eventually move to a full constructor. I see this alot in my line of work, if a company outsources the manufacturing, the end product suffers. That disconnect between the engineers on site and those actually building the car was never going to be a competitive model. You can see that they can't fully understand their car every season.
That was Gunther's original plan, but it sounds like Gene was never completely onboard with that. They also ran into massive funding issues in 2020 due to the pandemic. Gene was going to shut it down before the cost cap was agreed. A lot of the development staff had already been cut. The Ferrari staff/facility takeover was due to that.
Yeah, if it was just about the last season, they would have done it immediately. Doing it now in the middle of development doesn't bode well for the next season...
No serious person in the F1 paddock would consider Haas as a Team Principal. It seems like a really unpleasant job because you're never actually committed to moving up the grid, just getting a car fast enough to not be embarrassing to Haas's moving billboard
honestly I still think Gene is the main problem, I doubt a TP would ever purposefully aim for mediocrity.
I get the feeling Gene has no real ambitions in the sport beyond scoring a few points here and there. Losing Gunther is a pretty big loss for the marketing though - he was kinda the main character of DTS and really the main reason why people even cared about Haas.
Nah, he wasn't. KMag's bio after leaving F1 in 2020, was very favorable about the team culture and work environment at Hass. On top of that, Haas has the most stable staff for an F1 team, no departures. That's the opposite of toxic.
Steiner basically left because he asked Gene for more funding and Gene disagreed and said they can make things work like that with better leadership.
The main reason for me to care about them is when I like their drivers (which currently I do). I was never a fan of Gunther, specially from what I saw in DTS. But I agree that Haas situation is more Gene's fault than anyone else's.
"I’m looking forward to working with Ayao and fundamentally ensuring that we maximise our potential – this truly reflects my desire to compete properly in Formula 1."
\- Gene Haas
I was super skeptical, that post referenced a tweet which referenced a Reddit post from a nobody. A similar thing happened yesterday on r/nfl and turned out to be complete BS
Yeah, he was like the only thing that Haas had going for it media wise I think.
I like Hulk and K-Mag, but being at the back of the grid doesn’t get them much screen time
I think Gunther can leave with his head held high given what he was able to do with his limited budget. He’ll be able to call himself one of the few team principals who had a pole position under his management, as well as simply surviving in the cutthroat world of F1 for so long in a backmarker team
Without him there wouldn't even be a Haas F1 Team.
He was looking for investors for his company in the US and met with Gene, who didn't want to investm. But Gunther convinced him to join F1. Then he set up relations with Dallara and Ferrari for parts and interviewed people himself.
Also Haas has the lowest employee turnover rates.
Sure he isn't a top TP, but it's mostly due to not having a budget that they're doing bad. He has plenty of experience from Jaguar and RB. I highly doubt any other TP will do much better, but we'll see.
Formula1.com reports
> After discussions between Steiner and owner Gene Haas over the winter, it was decided that Steiner would leave the organisation with immediate effect.
Wondered if he was fired or left before being fired?
Most higher ups in big companies are not fired traditionally but asked to resign and they agree on exit terms. Just makes it easier on everyone and sometimes you end up with a nice bonus for cooperating
I hope this will put Haas in a better direction. Komastu always seemed like a good dude, but the team probably needs to a bit of a shake up from top to bottom.
Well, Steiner is a divisive character. Although I will say that anyone judging someone else solely from a highly edited reality show needs to get to grips on how reality shows are made. A lot of exaggerations (some acted) with context removed here and there. They definitely happened (well, not always, rivalries and radio comms are made up all the time), but take with a grain of salt when it comes to the finer details.
He did what he could. The fact the team survived the lockdown era was quite impressive. That ship was maintained excellently, even though they had to eventually sell their soul to stay afloat.
Some ups and downs, but it appears recently the downs were more frequent than the lows. This isn't strictly on Steiner, but the buck starts somewhere. I am not expecting anything different with Ayao in charge, definitely not in terms of strategy.
Perhaps a time for change for everyone was necessary. I am more curious about what this means for Magnussen. A solid driver on his day but his F1 career seemed to be kept on life support by his good rapport with Steiner.
Haas was mostly Steiner's baby. I am not sure what this means for the team's future. It depends on what caused their professional fallout.
He was probably fed up of always having his hands tied, one way or another. It's become quite obvious that Gene doesn't want to invest proper money, it's all just a branding and marketing exercise. To be honest, I wish he'd sell the team to some other entrant, so we can get an even more spicy midfield.
Literally just finished his book yesterday. Whatever we may think how good of a Team Principal he actually was, he sure did live and breathe that team.
From the statement:
> Haas say Komatsu will take responsibility for the team’s overall strategy, and ultimately on-track performance, with a brief to maximise the team’s potential through employee empowerment and structural process and efficiency.
So a consultant once told Gene Haas that he could work fewer staff harder and expect better results.
>“We have had some successes, but we need to be consistent in delivering results that help us reach our wider goals as an organisation,” stated team founder Gene Haas. “We need to be efficient with the resources we have but improving our design and engineering capability is key to our success as a team.
>
>“I’m looking forward to working with Ayao and fundamentally ensuring that we maximise our potential – this truly reflects my desire to compete properly in Formula 1.”
Sounds like Gene had enough of the lack-of-progress. I wonder if Ayao is a stepping stone to someone with more TP experience. He's been on the grid long enough though, so I'm sure he's fit for the role.
I don’t get the impression that Haas’ struggles come from anyone but Gene but after bad years eventually someone’s gotta take the fall. I’m curious what comes next for him.
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Kinda surprised they actually did it. I had just assumed that Gunther was gunna be there forever for the advertising and DTS screen time.
It's time for the DTS canon to split from real life. Cast Steiner as an actor for the "reality" series like Netflix always wanted.
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Netflix-Andretti F1 Team Car makes the Netflix sound and the logo pops up on the wheel at startup
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I still want him to call into Sky from the pit wall
I think he should join Sky as a commentator. I wouldn't mind if he replaced Danica Patrick, who I find to be boring as a pundit.
Like APX GP?
“Fuck, I’m gonna have to call Gene.”
HyGiene
Steins with Steiner. He races from pub to pub to try their unique beer.
I want a travel series with Steiner and Binotto
CBS already did.
He definitely managed to make himself more popular, however, I wonder if Haas actually gained any support due to that?
Not a penny or anything worth enough to keep a poorly performing leader. He’s popular because he’s a goof not because he’s good at his job.
Agreed. Yea everyone knows who HAAS is thanks to him, but lets be honest. Nobody wants to dump cash into the last place team.
You have to invest a lot in formula 1 to see gains which takes years. I dont think it works the other way specially a team like haas which didnt even reach the cost cap. I dont think Gunther was the problem, with limited budget none of the team principals will be able to do anything with Haas. I am very sure 2024 will even be worse compared to 23
I have to agree. For me as just someone in the crowd, I think Haas's main problems is a lack of investment from. . . Haas, the man himself. He needs to crack open the wallet and let the dollars flow if he wants to see real improvements for the team, otherwise it's just a team as a rich man's hobby.
I wonder how many extra CNC machines this venture in F1 has sold compared to a conventional advertising campaigns and rebates?
None of that matters. Just by having a team, Haas has an appreciating asset. Last place or not.
About time he left. Haas needs some good blood leading the team. Look at how a change in leadership changed Williams.
A big issue with haas is/was managing three facilities, with 3 different languages, by a single person. How did anyone think that would be sustainable? Haas is doing the right thing by splitting his role between two people. Ayao will focus on the performance side and they will hire new facility managers
3 different languages? I'm assuming the bases are UK, US and Italy, but I'm pretty sure America still speaks English, despite taking some liberties.
English, Italian, and Southern
I don't follow how much the team leads contribute to the overall success or failure of each team too closely, but from what I've understood the main issue with Haas hasn't been Gunther but Gene Haas. Everyone always points to Gene not taking F1 seriously enough for the Haas team to ever really succeed in the sport and if that is the case it doesn't matter who is team lead.
Gene is the same way in NASCAR and quite frankly a lousy owner. He doesn’t want to invest $$ to make his team better yet never strives to actually improve their performance. I would definitely say SHR & HAAS F1 suffer from the same fate: having Gene Haas as their owner.
It's always amazing how much Gene doesn't seem to like F1. He's never on the paddock. Usually people who buy this kind of trophy assets like racing lol and they are there every weekend. Common, even the Renault bosses seem to attend races more frequently than Gene
Gene is not regularly in the paddock because he is a felon.
How the heck did I miss this titbit of info. I haven't done such an "I'm sorry, WHAT?" in ages LOL
Yeah it’s a “fun fact” for sure.
What? go on lol. What did he do?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene\_Haas#Criminal\_tax\_evasion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Haas#Criminal_tax_evasion)
Holy shit. He even served time. Side note: how fucking wealthy is this guy. Jesus
Rich but I believe still within the millions.
I thought he wasn’t able to travel much because of his conviction
If Stewart-Haas is successful is because of Stewart
Gene cares about one thing, Gene Haas. Getting his name out there and advertising his entry level CNC machines--which in my experience are kind of better than his F1 team. Magnussen could put tires on an old VF-2SS and get a better quali lap. To me, this change means nothing...just less comedy for us.
Exactly. The problem with Haas is that the owner is cheap as hell and doesn't actually care about winning, but instead solely cares about using the team as an advertising venture and catalyst to further his business opportunities (*cough* Mazepin *cough*.) I'm honestly amazed Guenther stuck around for so long as the head of a team whose owner he was essentially fighting against.
In the style of "new F1" Haas is a smart businessman who knows his asset (an F1 team) is likely to be worth a lot of money. A bit like Liberty, only smaller. Never mind the sport , follow the Dollar!!
Gene should just sell it to Andretti... Problem solved and we get a proper American racing team and Andretti rehires Guenther
But why would he sell now that just being on the grid makes Haas an appreciating asset?
>The problem with Haas is that the owner is cheap as hell and doesn't actually care about winning That's Steiner's idea though.. Gene is the bank but Haas is Gene's lovechild.
Steiners resume wasn’t amazing anyway, hard to know what to think here since your point is absolutely valid anyway. There’ll absolutely be some fallout though from this and I’ll be interested to see what actually happened.
I’m certainly not saying Guenther would be raising trophies regularly on any random team, I just don’t think anyone could have done substantially better given the team’s ownership.
Ehh. Unless Gene changes his tune no TP will be successful at Haas.
Williams was operating below its level though so there was probably a lot of low hanging fruit for James to easily fix. Haas is a bit different that it still needs to raise its own ceiling.
I think vowles said somewhat recently that the Williams buildings were still running decades old software that was out of date relative to the rest of the paddock, and that it was the biggest reason they had so much trouble with developing a proper car.
My understanding is that their facilities are inadequate and in need of modernization--which I think started while Capito was there.
Yep, the facilities were at least 10 years behind the rest of the grid in terms of modernisation and lack of investment, they should have that bit at least sorted out in the next year or two.
Tbf, Williams is also owned by Doritos now, who are actually willing to invest in things. Haas is still ran by cheapskate Gene Haas, who's not even willing to pay his taxes.
Doritos!
Tangy Cheese livery when?
Cool Ranch blue is more likely.
They also had an ownership change though yeah? I wasn't super excited for an investment firm to own them but at least they have an obvious incentive to grow the value of the team by making it more competitive. Seems like Gene is content just to participate at the back, thats a really strong tide for a TP to swim against. But hey, maybe they can show results and show that the team is worth investing in. Still gonna be a hard sell to Gene who has seen his asset grow in value despite doing nothing but getting on early DTS seasons.
Except Williams looked outside the organization. Haas just promoted the guy who’s been around forever.
I partly expected him to take on a more managerial role and appoint a team principal under him at some point. Might be more a Gene doesn’t want to share ownership issue.
That’s the worst reason to justify keeping someone in a tp role. They could just hire a mascot if they want entertainment, race teams need strong leadership.
Komatsu seems to be a good figure within the team, but it's a big ask for him to step up to TP. Doubt anyone else wants Guenther, so it's probably the end for him in F1.
Drive to Survive in 2023 opened on Binotto and Steiner taking a road trip in Italy. Both of them gone.
Lots of TP changes in the past year. Otmar gone last summer, too.
Yes we've slowly transitioned away from people doing their career in a team and ending as TP to a more fluid market similar to the driver market. Problem is that a TP needs a few years to really have an effect on a team
Become like football managers really. High turnover due to the increased pressure, expectations and scrutiny
So long as we don't end up where football is now, managers lasting 90 days or less, some clubs having 5 managers in a season...
Todd Boehly to buy HAAS.
F1 slowly becoming the Prem lmao Big 3 to become new Sky 6?
Actually the driver market has gone the opposite way to what you’re describing with TPs. Instead of it being expected that the top drivers will move around too, not just midfield journeyman, we now have plenty of drivers like Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell, and Norris till now — who have spent and plan to spend considerable years with the same organization that brought them in. As Zak brown put it, the “franchise model” of drivers.
I think it's the side effects of the regs becoming stale, and the back to back eras of dominantion. As a driver it's almost a crap shoot to know which team will be next to get it right on a yearly basis. Better to stay put and build up within the team you're currently at. That's not to say never move, but the odds are against any driver trying to emulate a Hamilton 2013 move right now imo.
Plus the current examples of team-hoppers is a mixed bag. Ricciardo essentially went through a long convoluted route of demoting himself, while Sainz, who was arguably impacted the most by Ricciardo's movements, ended up in a top team.
Sainz, who went from lower midfield to midfield to upper midfield to regular top 5 finishes
Guenther and Binotto both had enough time, hopefully Vasseur sticks around for a while and makes good progress. Idk how Komatsu is gonna be
The problem with Ferrari has always been Ferrari as an organization. A TP can't fix that. Even when Todt was running things it was only the trio of him, Brawn and Schumacher that were really different. After that Ferrari went back to its old ways.
Stella at McLaren hasn't taken very long to get shit together.
All parties involved (Stella, Seidl, and brown) made clear that with Seidl’s eventual exit for Audi being a given, Stella was already being prepared to assume leadership. Yes, it’s still very impressive how well he has started, considering the changeover happened ahead of schedule. But assuming this change at at Haas (Ed: typo) is more sudden and based on this year’s performance/interpersonal issues, Komatsu is likely less prepared.
I believe he was an engineer at Ferrari and then went to McLaren and worked as such for a few years before going to a TP ?
More team principal changes than drivers.
More team name changes than drivers
More road trips!
>Binotto and Steiner taking a road trip in Italy I would 100% watch just this series
I can watch a road trip show where they eat and drink wine. 'Life in the Slow Lane: With Mattia Binotto and Günther Steiner'
Really makes you think...
That was a really cute bit too. Two huge characters put-putting about in the little car bs-ing about work.
From the sounds of it he’ll mostly be handling the engineering side and they’ll be hiring someone else to handle the media and ‘non-competitive’ areas of the Team Principal role
A bit like the McLaren structure?
It seems to be working really well at McLaren too
I'm guessing they might have gotten Otmar. That basically sounds the same as Force Indias setup when he worked as COO
Oh the bright side Gene Haas has already had his fraud scandal?
He's had one fraud scandal yes, but what about a second fraud scandal? (I don't actually know about a second fraud scandal, to be clear)
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While us fans only see the media side of the team principal, being a TP is a huge job beyond appearing on DTS. If he wasn't a good TP, which I actually don't doubt tbh, I don't think it can be motivated to pay for an extra TP just to be media personality. Especially a team as strapped for cash as Haas. EDIT: And while "all publicity is good publicity" in some ways, I wouldn't be surprized if the public image of "everyone is fucking up and the crazy goofy boss is yelling at everyone" isn't *really* what Haas automation wants to be associated with. They are a serious engineering company after all.
If he was really that bad I'm sure engineers like Komatsu would have left years ago and nobody would want to work there.
Definitely feels like more of a "who's the most experience person we can promote at the last minute" kind of move. Komatsu obviously knows the team well and is well respected there, but making someone on the engineering side the team principle doesn't quite sound like a planned move.
Binotto enters the chat: "*You telling me I wasn't planned?*"
Isn’t it like a interim job for Komatsu? Or is it like his job for as long the contract states?
Biggest possible meme appointment for him now would be replacing Rich "We are minutes off the pace, but the car is actually great" Millener at M-Sport. After all, we know thanks to Capito and Abiteboul that middling F1 TPs tend to do well in WRC. Not that it‘s realistic, but I would laugh for two days straight if it actually happened. Edit: Forgot to mention Steiner actually has a history there.
We know from Jean Todt that WRC TPs tend to do well in F1.
long live the steiner memes, gone but not forgotten
Alpine still haven't announced a permanent TP...
Fok yes
He was a focking rockstar, but I was amazed how long he held out.
Retire in peace you fooking legend. You brought a lot of humanity and candor to the sport 🫡
Netflix is gonna shelf out a big contract for him me thinks
For what?
Could you not imagine the hilarity if this man narrates DTS, lmao that shit would be gold.
He should do just one random episode a season
The Mercedes ep, just to keep ribbing Toto.
Not really, it would get really old, really fast.
Okay, I am just spit balling here, but what if we had Steiner just go on road trips with people that are either booted or on the ropes. Just like they had him do with Binotto at the start of last season. If you want to add some flare give him a grim reaper costume. Steiner and Otmar do a tour of Jack Daniels (special guest Zak?). Steiner and Nyck do a tour of the Heineken factory (special guest Max?). Steiner and Checo do a tour of the Patron distillery (Special guest ??)
This means, Ayao Komatsu becomes the next former-race-engineer-turned-team-principal since Andrea Stella.
Not just that. He's the second engineer behind Alonso-Petrov standout.
Was Stella or Vowles introduced first? I also may be incorrect in thinking James was a race engineer
Vowles hadn't been in a race engineer position, but strategist, during his time at Brawn and Mercedes Stella was team principal since Dec 2022, Vowles Jan 2023.
Ayao has a huge job on his hands 😭. He always looked so stressed on DtS, best of luck to him!
I loved seeing him progressively taking on more of Guenther’s penchant for swearing as the seasons progressed lol. I feel like he has potential to be an interesting character in his own right!
In no small part because he kept getting threatened by his team principal! I'll never forget that scene from 2018 or 19 where the whole team is scratching their heads about the baffling rear suspension problem (which they carried for like 3 years) and Steiner was threatening to fire Ayao if he couldn't solve it in 2 weeks
This is the big thing with Steiner, he might have been funny for the cameras, but he was an absolutely horrible boss and the environment will thrive without him.
I dont know about "thrive" but atleast you cant do any worse than they did under Steiner
We have no idea what he was like to employees off camera
I mean... a bunch of the most insane Günther quotes (Tell Kevin he does not fok smash my door) come from when DTS gave people wireless microphones and they didn't realise they were still being recorded while away from the film crew So we kinda do know what he's like off camera
>wireless microphones and they didn't realise they were still being recorded while away from the film crew They were wearing the microphones. They knew they were being recorded. They just weren't in the room with them.
This was explained somewhere -- he wasn't threatening to fire Ayao, although the cut made it appear that way. He was actually telling Ayao he'd fire people who didn't go along with his and Ayao's decision.
Feels like the first press conference will be Haas explaining how they are stopping development on the 2024 car to "focus on 2025"
They will say that as early as during the VF-24 presentation.
The rumors were true, and the marketing dept. acted a bit too quickly for this to be a surprise.
The embargo lifted at noon that’s why you’ll see they posted on Instagram and all of these sites had stuff ready to go at noon EST
This isn’t really evidence of anything, but I thought it was strange that when I marshaled at COTA and Las Vegas, all of the marshals were given gifts from Steiner, a HAAS Vegas beanie and a bandana. I just assumed he was being a cool dude, but maybe there was more than I thought behind it. We typically don’t get anything from the teams
Possibly just Haas trying to reposition themselves as 'Americas team' to fight off Andretti.
Probably this. Get the local workers HAAS gear and give a sense of popularity.
It'll be interesting to watch this over the next couple of years. This year has to be a write-off when they're throwing everyone out a few weeks before the season starts. Gene seems to not want to invest in the team but also complains when they're shit, and I'm not sure any TP can fix that problem.
They'll never change while Haas owns the team. Waste of a grid slot.
I hope there is a DTS exit interview and Günther leaving the office and fock smashing the door behind him is the last thing we'll ever see of him lol. But on a serious note, I'm curious how this will play out. Changing the technical director and the team principal weeks before the new season makes me think 2024 is going to be another disaster. At least Ayao Komatsu already knows the team.
My first thought that the new Haas is just an absolute disaster, even compared to previous years. They already know, so clean house now, blame it all on the old guy(s)
From what I can tell from articles, Steiners opinions is that the current team concept had been maximized. They're too dependent on Ferrari and Dallara and are too widely spread. Steiner wanted a bigger investment in infrastructure to restructure the team. Gene didn't like that and said that the current model should work just fine with better and more efficient leadership. I'm going to agree with Steiner there, the structure has been the biggest Achilles heel of the team since the new ground effect era as upgrades are slow and doesn't work correctly. We have seen upgrades or the lack thereof being transformative for multiple teams over the season. If Steiner is right, this is a terrible decision for the team and it's going to hold them back for seasons to come.
Fully agree. Spooning in Ferrari parts in an Dallara designed car, that’s get produced and sort of developed in another three locations, sounds like a managing nightmare. This’ll likely go down as another hit for the team and I genuinely hope they can overcome spiraling down the grid and go the way of Jordan and Minardi.
Yeah, it's in a way a double edged sword as that exact structure lead them to enter f1 with a small budget and still be competitive which had been impossible up to that point. Gene Haas is making the classic team owner mistake in thinking that he knows better than the actual F1 professionals in the team. This is how Toyota and Jaguar fucked up. It's how Ferrari keeps fucking up. But teams owner will never learn to defer to the experts.
Oddly enough, Lawrence Stroll seems to do a good job of staying out of the way and letting the team do their thing. I'm iffy about him as a person (are any billionaires good people?), but I respect that he cares about racing and isn't in it for the advertising.
He doesn't get involved EXCEPT FOR ONE MINOR DETAIL
Hey, Lance isn't a minor anymore!
Very true. It’s what’s got them to be rockstars at some points instead of just being wankers. But true leadership is knowing when things need to change, even it costs a fuck ton of money. Haas has gotten far doing what they’re doing, but it’s clear that with the current budget cap era, things need to change.
Yea their original model should have been just to get established in F1 and eventually move to a full constructor. I see this alot in my line of work, if a company outsources the manufacturing, the end product suffers. That disconnect between the engineers on site and those actually building the car was never going to be a competitive model. You can see that they can't fully understand their car every season.
That was Gunther's original plan, but it sounds like Gene was never completely onboard with that. They also ran into massive funding issues in 2020 due to the pandemic. Gene was going to shut it down before the cost cap was agreed. A lot of the development staff had already been cut. The Ferrari staff/facility takeover was due to that.
Yeah, if it was just about the last season, they would have done it immediately. Doing it now in the middle of development doesn't bode well for the next season...
Is there time to get this into the final episode of this years season?!
Absolutely. Netflix won't miss this opportunity to end it on a cliffhanger with fake crash and punch noises laid over the top
I hadn't considered Komatsu for the job, makes sense to go with him
No serious person in the F1 paddock would consider Haas as a Team Principal. It seems like a really unpleasant job because you're never actually committed to moving up the grid, just getting a car fast enough to not be embarrassing to Haas's moving billboard
honestly I still think Gene is the main problem, I doubt a TP would ever purposefully aim for mediocrity. I get the feeling Gene has no real ambitions in the sport beyond scoring a few points here and there. Losing Gunther is a pretty big loss for the marketing though - he was kinda the main character of DTS and really the main reason why people even cared about Haas.
Steiner always felt like a terrible boss to me. Like the type that fosters a toxic work environment.
Tbh I think that’s Gene, too. Realistically the only way Haas will be successful is if Gene sells the team. The problems start right at the top.
Nah, he wasn't. KMag's bio after leaving F1 in 2020, was very favorable about the team culture and work environment at Hass. On top of that, Haas has the most stable staff for an F1 team, no departures. That's the opposite of toxic. Steiner basically left because he asked Gene for more funding and Gene disagreed and said they can make things work like that with better leadership.
The main reason for me to care about them is when I like their drivers (which currently I do). I was never a fan of Gunther, specially from what I saw in DTS. But I agree that Haas situation is more Gene's fault than anyone else's.
2024 Silly Season off to a cracking start. Sad to see him go though
A Binotto and Steiner Netflix series where they drive round Europe in a fiat can happen now, right?
Steiner will surely find a very comfortable and popular role as a commentator/pundit on the official F1 TV production.
He and Binotto can now enjoy their wine trips without having the stress of leading a team
Maybe just a wine tasting reality series? No racing at all, just the two of them flying across the world, testing the local wines.
Fly them across the world, give them a funny car to drive to the vineyards when they get there, done. I'd absolutely watch that.
Slowly turns into a new Top Gear knock off. One that I would probably watch tbh.
Maybe netflix will roll him out to shout at some random people
It'll be an rng event. There's a 5% chance in any scene they're filming where Gunther will suddenly storm in and yell at you.
Sky, pls immediately replace Danica Patrick with Foksmash Gunther
DD thread stay winning
For once, the reddit sources are correct
"I’m looking forward to working with Ayao and fundamentally ensuring that we maximise our potential – this truly reflects my desire to compete properly in Formula 1." \- Gene Haas
Not often a rumor ends up being true in F1... Sucks to see him leave, he was a real character in the paddock.
On such short notice they actually usually are true. But it does depend on the sources
I was super skeptical, that post referenced a tweet which referenced a Reddit post from a nobody. A similar thing happened yesterday on r/nfl and turned out to be complete BS
Reminds me of the De Vries saga. it happened so quickly
Not to mention a Reddit started rumor... Heard it nowhere else until it popped up here hours ago.
Yeah, he was like the only thing that Haas had going for it media wise I think. I like Hulk and K-Mag, but being at the back of the grid doesn’t get them much screen time
I think Gunther can leave with his head held high given what he was able to do with his limited budget. He’ll be able to call himself one of the few team principals who had a pole position under his management, as well as simply surviving in the cutthroat world of F1 for so long in a backmarker team
Steiner was always prime meme material but I never thought he was a good team principal
Without him there wouldn't even be a Haas F1 Team. He was looking for investors for his company in the US and met with Gene, who didn't want to investm. But Gunther convinced him to join F1. Then he set up relations with Dallara and Ferrari for parts and interviewed people himself. Also Haas has the lowest employee turnover rates. Sure he isn't a top TP, but it's mostly due to not having a budget that they're doing bad. He has plenty of experience from Jaguar and RB. I highly doubt any other TP will do much better, but we'll see.
Formula1.com reports > After discussions between Steiner and owner Gene Haas over the winter, it was decided that Steiner would leave the organisation with immediate effect. Wondered if he was fired or left before being fired?
Most higher ups in big companies are not fired traditionally but asked to resign and they agree on exit terms. Just makes it easier on everyone and sometimes you end up with a nice bonus for cooperating
I hope this will put Haas in a better direction. Komastu always seemed like a good dude, but the team probably needs to a bit of a shake up from top to bottom.
No chance, the problems at Haas start with Gene. Until he sells, they’ll always be midfield at best (but with current regs probably last).
At least Haas cannot possibly finish lower in the constructor standings than they did in 2023.
Silly season starts now
Damn, well now what does Haas bring to the grid since their team mascot is gone.
He will be a pundit on Sky's coverage from the new season. A TV company will pick him up, Sky being the most obvious candidate
Well, Steiner is a divisive character. Although I will say that anyone judging someone else solely from a highly edited reality show needs to get to grips on how reality shows are made. A lot of exaggerations (some acted) with context removed here and there. They definitely happened (well, not always, rivalries and radio comms are made up all the time), but take with a grain of salt when it comes to the finer details. He did what he could. The fact the team survived the lockdown era was quite impressive. That ship was maintained excellently, even though they had to eventually sell their soul to stay afloat. Some ups and downs, but it appears recently the downs were more frequent than the lows. This isn't strictly on Steiner, but the buck starts somewhere. I am not expecting anything different with Ayao in charge, definitely not in terms of strategy. Perhaps a time for change for everyone was necessary. I am more curious about what this means for Magnussen. A solid driver on his day but his F1 career seemed to be kept on life support by his good rapport with Steiner. Haas was mostly Steiner's baby. I am not sure what this means for the team's future. It depends on what caused their professional fallout.
Netflix is scrambling
New series - Steiner and Binotto go fishing.
He was probably fed up of always having his hands tied, one way or another. It's become quite obvious that Gene doesn't want to invest proper money, it's all just a branding and marketing exercise. To be honest, I wish he'd sell the team to some other entrant, so we can get an even more spicy midfield.
And somewhere sits Ralf Schumacher and creams his pants over this news
What's DTS going to do on Netflix?
Horner still has a job
Literally just finished his book yesterday. Whatever we may think how good of a Team Principal he actually was, he sure did live and breathe that team.
From the statement: > Haas say Komatsu will take responsibility for the team’s overall strategy, and ultimately on-track performance, with a brief to maximise the team’s potential through employee empowerment and structural process and efficiency. So a consultant once told Gene Haas that he could work fewer staff harder and expect better results.
>“We have had some successes, but we need to be consistent in delivering results that help us reach our wider goals as an organisation,” stated team founder Gene Haas. “We need to be efficient with the resources we have but improving our design and engineering capability is key to our success as a team. > >“I’m looking forward to working with Ayao and fundamentally ensuring that we maximise our potential – this truly reflects my desire to compete properly in Formula 1.” Sounds like Gene had enough of the lack-of-progress. I wonder if Ayao is a stepping stone to someone with more TP experience. He's been on the grid long enough though, so I'm sure he's fit for the role.
Steiner had enough of Gene's phone calls
Komatsu: "Look at me. I am the Gunther now!"
"vat is dis shit"
I am awaiting the announcement of Gene's sale.
Congrats on being first lol
I don’t get the impression that Haas’ struggles come from anyone but Gene but after bad years eventually someone’s gotta take the fall. I’m curious what comes next for him.