Laura Muller: Haas employed a German as Formula 1’s first female race engineer

Komatsu, who became team principal ahead of the 2024 season, said he wanted to change the race operations team from the start of last year after seeing weaknesses.

Haas’ changes include appointing a new chief race engineer and sporting director, both public positions that were not filled by the low-budget team last season.

The new chief race engineer is Francesco Nenci, who most recently worked in Audi’s Dakar Rally program, and has F1 experience with Sauber and Toyota. Mark Lowe, previously the team manager of Haas operations, will be the sporting director.

“I feel that the trackside team is one of the weakest areas last year, and the more competitive the car is, the more exposed it is,” said Komatsu.

“Towards the end of the year we have the fifth fastest car. But in terms of execution, we should have finished P6 (in the constructors’ championship) but we didn’t.

“Part of that we left too many points in the table from the trackside operation. So it really needed a step-up.”

Cridelich, from France, follows other female strategy leaders, including Hannah Schmitz, principal strategy engineer at Red Bull. Ruth Buscombe and Bernie Collins, who previously worked at Sauber and Aston Martin, have both moved on to broadcasting careers.

Haas has a unique structure in that its in-house operations are scaled back as much as possible through a partnership with Ferrari.

Haas uses Ferrari’s wind tunnel, has its design team in Italy in Maranello and buys almost all the parts from Ferrari that are allowed under the car’s rules, designing only the aerodynamic surfaces and the chassis.

Its headquarters are in Kannapolis, North Carolina, but the team races out of a modest factory in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

Komatsu says this will be the first year Haas will have enough budget to reach the F1 budget cap. Another change in approach is that they won’t be using Ferrari’s latest redesigned front suspension, preferring to stick with last year’s design for consistency in aerodynamic research.

Haas finished seventh overall last year, ahead of Racing Bulls, Williams and Sauber, and Komatsu said his vision was “set on consistency”.

“In the history with Haas over the years, I don’t think we compete in seasons in the same way,” he said.

He added that he had ambitions to further improve the team which he said was “punching above its weight” for limited resources.

“Who (else) only has 300 people or operates a building like this?” Komatsu said.

“If Williams operated for their potential, there is no way we can beat them. I want to get to a place where we can beat people sorts on merit without people screwing up.”