Haas failed to score points at the Japanese GP, but Ayao Komatsu’s team proved the VF-24 is a well-rounded machine
A strong start off the line catapulted Nico Hulkenberg into the top 10, putting him in a strong position to deliver points in Suzuka. The VF-24’s straight-line speed, which was again on display in Japan, makes it a very difficult car to overtake. In combination with its overall pace, Hulkenberg was in contention to secure more points for Haas F1.
However, a nightmare restart after the red flag relegated Hulkenberg to the very back. He then committed to an aggressive strategy, stopping early in an effort to undercut his rivals. Despite losing time and track position early on, he finished the race in 11th place – not significantly far away from Yuki Tsunoda in the RB.
Heading into this weekend, the expectation was that Haas would struggle compared to previous rounds. This is something that Ayao Komatsu, Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen reiterated consistently to the media. After qualifying, however, it seemed possible that Haas – once again – underestimated their performance.
Still, the team principal of the American outfit was frustrated that points were left on the table:
“Today with Nico, the first start was fine but on the second start he didn’t do the procedure correctly so he went into anti-stall and lost positions.
“On the positive side, our race pace today was much better than what we saw earlier in the weekend.
“So the changes the team made after FP3 and before qualifying worked well.
“From there to recover to almost scoring points was very encouraging, so that’s the positive we’re going to take.”
Operational efficiency has been a key strength for the team to start the 2024 season. Currently 7th in the constructors, a combination of good strategy and clean pit stops has often provided the incremental gains necessary to beat their rivals. Of course, a strong driver pairing is another important factor.
Arguably, Haas has been capable of scoring points at every race this season. Early contact for Hulkenberg was costly in Bahrain, whilst a poor red flag restart was the limiting factor last weekend.
Despite these errors, the team’s time under the leadership of Ayao Komatsu has commenced in a very convincing way. Considering the very clear top-five group in Formula 1, securing four points in the same number of race weekends is more than adequate. Alpine, Sauber and Williams are still without their first top-10 results in this year’s campaign.
