Who is the new CEO of Haas, Ayo Komatsu?

Following the dismissal of Guenther Steiner, Haas owner, American businessman Gene Haas, appointed Ayo Komatsu as team leader. What do you remember about Komatsu in Formula 1 in recent years and what should you know about the new head of Haas?

Ayo Komatsu is another example of how a young engineer built a career in Formula 1 and, after going through all the stages, was allowed to lead a team. Komatsu moved from Japan to Britain for higher education. He graduated from university in Loughborough, Leicestershire, with a degree in engineering, and got a job with the BAR team in 2003.

Now this team operates under the name Mercedes and was Honda’s only customer in Formula 1 in those years. Ayo Komatsu worked at BAR for three years and moved to Renault in 2006, where he was responsible for working with tires. After the ‘tire wars’ in Formula 1 ended, Komatsu was given broader powers.

During his ten-year career at Renault, Ayo worked as a racing engineer for Vitaly Petrov and Romain Grosjean. Both drivers climbed to the podium under the leadership of the Japanese specialist, but did not achieve any victories. After working with Grosjean for several years, Komatsu was promoted to chief racing engineer.

In 2016, Romain Grosjean joined Haas, and together with him Komatsu started working for Gene Haas. In the new team, Ayo Komatsu was already responsible for all engineering work on the circuit. He held this position until he was promoted to team leader.

Ayo Komatsu’s career is somewhat similar to that of Andrea Stella, who spent many years in the championship in various technical positions and took over from McLaren last year. Stella’s debut year as team manager has been successful, so we will watch with interest to see how successful the upcoming season will be for his Japanese counterpart.