Ayo Komatsu: The Australian circuit has its own characteristics

Ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, Haas F1 boss Ayo Komatsu spoke about previous races and the features of the Albert Park circuit.

Ayo Komatsu: “During the winter testing we focused on solving last year’s biggest problem: the lack of speed on the track, and after two races, held on completely different circuits and in different conditions, we are quite satisfied that we have achieved a have taken a step forward. But to draw definitive conclusions, you need to have completed at least four Grand Prix on different circuits, with different tires and climate.

Getting points in Jeddah was very important. During the winter testing we realized that we could compete for 9th-10th place with four other teams from the middle group.

I was a bit unhappy after the Bahrain Grand Prix because I thought we could have done better with the strategy. And in Jeddah we accomplished this task, making the most of the team strategy as Kevin helped Nico get away. From then on they both rode flawlessly, with Kevin aiming for his target lap time and Nico making no mistakes and pulling away.

When Nico pulled away, Kevin again showed a high pace, which once again proves that our car is fast on the course this season.

I’m looking forward to Melbourne, the Australian circuit has its own characteristics. In terms of downforce it is similar to Bahrain, but otherwise completely different. When setting up the car we will again focus on race pace. Tire degradation will not be as low as in Jeddah, and not as high as in Bahrain, but somewhere in the middle.

This year for the first time we will have the softest C5 tires, which we have struggled to get working in the past. This year we have not encountered any strong bubbles yet, we will see how this weekend goes.”