Haas continues to search for inconsistencies in its car, which reportedly aren’t limited to Esteban Ocon’s car: Team Principal Ayao Komatsu is at a loss so far
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu admits that the team has no idea what the problem is with Esteban Ocon’s car. The Frenchman has complained several times in recent months about his VF-26, which is reportedly slower than that of his teammate Oliver Bearman and struggles with sometimes strange and erratic behavior.
Komatsu had subsequently come to Ocon’s defense, emphasizing that this makes it difficult to accurately compare the two drivers’ performances. But he doesn’t yet know how to solve the Frenchman’s problem.
“With some issues, we can pinpoint exactly where they’re coming from and fix them. But if you don’t understand exactly where it’s coming from, it’s naturally difficult—then you can’t solve it,” says the Japanese engineer, who also emphasizes that the fluctuating quality of the cars doesn’t just affect Ocon. “It happens on both cars at different times.”
When asked if it’s due to the manufacturing quality of the parts, he shrugs. “Honestly, if I had the answer to that, we’d have solved it, right? We’ve fixed certain issues we’ve identified, but we’re still having problems, aren’t we? So honestly, I don’t have an answer to that right now.”
According to Komatsu, even completely disassembling the car and conducting an intensive inspection of every part wouldn’t help: “If that were the solution, we’d know by now. We’re taking the car apart all the time,” he emphasizes.
For Haas, solving the problem is an absolute priority, “because it’s very, very important to have that consistency,” the team principal notes. “You have to be able to trust that when you install parts with the same specifications or the same assembly on the car, you can expect the same performance.”
“This is something we really need to resolve and get under control as quickly as possible.”