Mercedes is the favorite going into the new Formula 1 season: Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu sees this as no coincidence—and gives reasons why the team is one step ahead.
Although Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc secured the fastest time on the final day of testing in Bahrain, Mercedes remains the clear favorite ahead of the season opener in Australia. For Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu, however, this comes as no surprise – quite the contrary.
This is because Toto Wolff’s team, which emerged from the Brawn GP racing team at the end of 2009 after taking over Honda’s Formula 1 team, has been focusing on personnel and structural continuity for years. “The team has been around for many years, with different people,” Komatsu emphasizes.
And the Japanese knows exactly what he’s talking about. “I was already there when it was still Honda, 23 years ago,” says the current Haas team boss, who took his first steps as a tire engineer at BAR in 2003. “Many of my colleagues from back then are still there. So they’ve been working together for 20 years.”
In his view, this is precisely where a decisive competitive advantage lies. “So they know each other very well and know how each other works. That means they can probably work better together. And what’s more, software, tools, and infrastructure have evolved over decades through learning processes.”
At Mercedes, “everything is probably better”
Especially at the beginning of a new era of regulations, in which not only the drive system but also the chassis is undergoing fundamental changes, this is a fundamental advantage, says the Japanese engineer. “The tools, the processes, the understanding—all of this may not be quantifiable. But it really affects everything.”
“The models in the wind tunnel: quality, quantity, speed—everything is probably better,” says the Haas team boss, who is therefore not surprised by the strong performance of the Silver Arrows. “The same applies to CFD simulations.”
“Even with the same simulations, with the right understanding, processes, and procedures, you can achieve significantly higher quality or greater throughput, even in the same amount of time,” says the Haas team boss. “It’s simply about everything.”
“In Formula 1, you have to take everything into account in order to understand the complexity,” says Komatsu. Against this backdrop, Mercedes has, by and large, the optimal conditions for success. “I don’t think there is one-size-fits-all solution.”
