Gene Haas adds F1 investment to ‘increase the ceiling’ as on-track performance improves

Haas Formula 1 team principal Ayao Komatsu has revealed that owner Gene Haas is willing to continue investing ample funds into his Formula 1 team — particularly as the team has one of its most successful seasons in years.

Haas is one of the smaller teams on the grid, making its current seventh place in the World Constructors’ Championship particularly impressive — and it has also encouraged Gene Haas to continue investing.

Ayao Komatsu: Haas aims to “increase the ceiling” of performance

In an exclusive interview with Crash.net , Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu stated that Gene Haas has invested more money into the team he owns this season, and that the American businessman is looking to spend more.

Gene Haas has approached Formula 1 team ownership in a very particular way. The Haas F1 team is primarily a vehicle to advertise Haas’ CNC machinery company on an international stage, which is why title sponsorship has been rare. However, Haas has always been particularly strategic with his F1 investments.

The authors of Racing with Rich Energy: How a Rogue Sponsor Took Formula 1 for a Ride discovered from Haas team members that Gene Haas requested the outfit begin operating on a limited budget even before Formula 1 officially introduced a cost cap. The goal was to prepare for the cost cap implementation, though it also unfortunately meant the team couldn’t grow quite as quickly as others.

That strategy could be criticized for effectively limiting the team’s ability to score points during a season, but after Haas released Guenther Steiner from his team principal role and hired Ayao Komatsu instead, the outfit has seen a significant improvement in performance.

Per Komatsu’s interview with Crash.net, that’s because Haas has already begun bulking up his investments.

More on Gene Haas:

👉 What Haas’ continued NASCAR presence says about its F1 program

👉 Gene Haas gives very blunt response to post-Guenther Steiner era question

“With the current model, how we [are] set up currently, I don’t think we can do any better than this — much better,” Komatsu told Crash.net , referring to the fact that Haas is a much smaller team personnel-wise than any other on the grid.

“But the good thing is Gene, he always said he will invest as long as we can show as a team we can maximize what we got. This is exactly what we’ve done.

“Gene has already started investing more after three races. After three races in Melbourne, he agreed on certain things. We need to invest. We need to improve the team.

“We need to really increase the ceiling of the team to be able to perform better. We have to do it in parallel.”

Komatsu noted that Gene Haas wanted to see the team maximizing its performance with its given budget before he poured more money into growing the team. Feeling confident that Komatsu has utilized those finances well, he agreed to provide more funding.

However, Komatsu is skeptical that the team will be able to grow without a larger injection of funding.

“Maximizing what we got, then that will convince Gene to invest more, which is happening,” Komatsu said to Crash.net .

“With that investment, we will gradually, gradually increase our capability. If we don’t, there’s no way we can fight for P7 [in future WCCs].”

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