Ayao Komatsu evaluated the chances of his Haas F1 team ahead of the 2024 season as he made a comparison to his closest rivals.
Haas finished the most recent season in the last place. Ayao Komatsu has been appointed as the new team principal of the team as the owner (Gene Haas) hopes he can lift the team from the bottom of the Championship table.
Komatsu recently asserted his realistic goal is to finish eighth in 2024 and suggested that will be challenging considering his team's current situation.
The problem he currently faces is that his team does not have as big of a budget as the closest rivals, and therefore, he has to be more efficient with resources. He told as-web.jp:
"I think it will be difficult for us to overtake the other two teams on our own, rather than relying on others. Both Alfa Romeo (editor's note: Afla Romeo is now rebranded to Stake F1 team) in 9th place and Williams in 7th place have better budgets and systems than us."
Williams finished seventh even though the team has been focusing on the 2024 car ever since the beginning of the season, so it seems probable that Haas could challenge the team during the upcoming season.
The Stake F1 team is in a transition period as the team prepares for the Audi 2026 rebrand. While the team representatives claim they aim for better results in 2024, the focus of the team is divided at the moment.
Alfa Romeo was also the only one besides Haas who could not achieve a single point during the last five races of the most recent season. It seems the starting position going into the winter break was similar for both teams, so Haas could possibly compete with Stake in 2024.
To finish eighth, Haas would need to beat one more team - AlphaTauri or, as we now know it, Visa Cash App RB - VCARB. Komatsu said:
"AlphaTauri (editor's note: now rebranded to VCARB), which is in 8th place, has also improved significantly in the second half of the season, and it is said that they will strengthen their partnership with Red Bull this year, so there is a possibility that they will not be able to compete."
Big steps in development are possible, as McLaren showed last year, but to finish eighth in the Championship will be considered a terrific result according to the team principal of the American team.
"2024 will be a transition period for Haas, but we still need to improve our results while changing teams, so if we can come in 8th place, it will be a great achievement."
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