By Joe Murphy
Kevin Magnussen has praised the recent changes at Haas, as teammate Nico Hulkenberg sounded more regretful about the staffing alterations.
After finishing tenth last year, team owner Gene Haas released Guenther Steiner, mainly due to differences over funding amounts. “I had a great relationship with Gunther, but we didn’t grow enough,”. He lauded the new man in the role, Ayao Komatsu. Magnussen himself claims that Komatsu is approaching Haas from a more engineering perspective, more methodical and this is something that the team has needed.
He also suggested that Komatsu has decided that the main priority testing was to tune the new car so it doesn’t burn through the tyres in upcoming Grand Prix. Therefore, a clear focus on reliability and small, yet sutble, progress.
“He wants to improve our situation in the races. Because that is clearly what will give us a better season. So why not use our three test days to learn more about that? That’s how it’s been all pre-season. This also applies to the assessment of expectations internally in the team. We don’t dream as much this year. We know what task lies ahead, the situation we are in, and we deal with it realistically. He (Komatsu) is an engineer. He sees things differently… “
The focus now has to be on making some technical and mechanical progress over the course of the year. Haas will also want to be in a better place in both the short term and longer-term future in the sport of Formula 1.
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