Haas crew principal Ayao Komatsu believes constructing belief with Esteban Ocon and ensuring there is no such thing as a ambiguity about the best way the crew operates shall be central to the Frenchman’s success.
Ocon will be part of Haas in 2025 after leaving Alpine, the place his departure was introduced shortly after he was criticized for his function in a collision with teammate Pierre Gasly within the Monaco Grand Prix. Komatsu has partnered Ocon with rookie Ollie Bearman in an all-new Haas line-up subsequent 12 months, and says he has by no means had any main issues between drivers so long as what is predicted of them is made clear beforehand.
“Truthfully, I feel a lot of it comes all the way down to transparency, belief after which readability of guidelines of engagement,” Komatsu mentioned. “I feel that issues occur when a sure belief is damaged between crew and driver.
“Not in my present place however I’ve been doing Formulation 1 for a fairly very long time – in my varied positions of race engineer, chief race engineer, director of engineering or present place of tam principal – my expertise is that so long as I method them with transparency, no private agenda, a transparent crew’s agenda about how we have to undergo this race weekend or this 12 months, what’s the target, what’s the foundations of engagement… So long as that’s clarified prematurely, so long as the communication is completely clear then the belief is there.
“When the belief is there then I haven’t really encountered any points that acquired out of hand. So I’m not nervous, personally. If I used to be nervous then I wouldn’t have chosen this mixture, as a result of it’s my accountability that we’ve got two drivers that work for the perfect pursuits of the crew. I’ve little question that Ollie and Esteban will ship that.”
Komatsu acknowledges the collision with Gasly in Monaco was one thing he mentioned with Ocon earlier than finalizing the Frenchman’s arrival.
“After all we needed to take into account it. It’s not prefer it’s gone unnoticed, it’s a fairly main incident. So I had a dialog with him, and nonetheless made that call. I’m pleased with it.”
Komatsu says he was stunned by how invested within the Haas undertaking Ocon was as soon as it was outlined to him as a part of negotiations, as he was in a position to entice a driver from a works’ crew.
“He’s solely 27, he’s nonetheless acquired tons to show, and for me he’s nonetheless acquired wonderful dedication and work ethic, and once I met him and defined the undertaking to him about the place we’re and what we’re making an attempt to realize, I wasn’t making an attempt to persuade him, I simply advised him as it’s. After which he simply acquired utterly on board, to be sincere way more so than I anticipated.
“He was so engaged, he needed to be a part of this undertaking and he believes on this undertaking. It means quite a bit to me that we’ve got a driver – skilled driver – with a very good monitor document, nonetheless younger, nonetheless has quite a bit to show, and he utterly one hundred pc believes within the undertaking. I’m sue he’ll give us his all, so I’m actually wanting ahead to it.”
