Guenther Steiner is out as MoneyGram Haas F1 team principal, with Ayao Komatsu replacing him, Haas announced Jan. 10.
Komatsu has been promoted to the role from a gig as director of engineering. He started with the team in 2016 as its chief race engineer.
“I’d like to start by extending my thanks to Guenther Steiner for all his hard work over the past decade and I wish him well for the future,” team owner Gene Haas said in a release. “Moving forward as an organization it was clear we need to improve our on-track performances. In appointing Ayao Komatsu as team principal we fundamentally have engineering at the heart of our management.”
“I’m naturally very excited to have the opportunity to be team principal at MoneyGram Haas F1 Team,” Komatsu added. “Having been with the team since its track debut back in 2016 I’m obviously passionately invested in its success in Formula 1. I’m looking forward to leading our program and the various competitive operations internally to ensure we can build a structure that produces improved on-track performances.”
Haas will field F1 entries for Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg in 2024, the same lineup as in 2023. Hulkenberg and Magnussen finished 16th and 19th in the standings, respectively.
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