Haas F1 boss Ayao Komatsu opens up on the ‘very difficult’ reality Nico Hulkenberg had to admit

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Nico Hulkenberg is leading Haas in the Formula 1 team’s best season since 2018, but team principal Ayao Komatsu had to point out a ‘difficult’ truth to unlock his results.

The American-owned squad head home next time out, with Haas set to contest their eighth United States Grand Prix yet. Austin, Texas has only held two points-scoring Grand Prix for Haas since their debut on the grid in 2016, however, when Romain Grosjean finished in P10.

Kevin Magnussen achieved Haas’ only other top-10 finish at the Circuit of the Americas with P9 in the 2022 United States GP. But the Dane has seldom scored points this season with six to his name. Hulkenberg has scored 24 of Haas’ 31 points, while Oliver Bearman scored one.

Haas boss Ayao Komatsu had to be ‘painfully’ honest about Nico Hulkenberg’s tyre issues

Haas’ haul of 31 points over 18 rounds has them seventh in the constructors’ standings with six rounds still remaining. The team have only finished a year higher than eighth once when Grosjean and Magnussen combined to achieve Haas’ best year-end result with fifth in 2018.

READ MORE: Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg’s life outside F1 from wife to height

Hulkenberg has led Haas this season with points in six Grand Prix plus in the F1 Sprint at the Miami Grand Prix. Magnussen has only finished three Grand Prix in the points and will leave Haas ahead of Esteban Ocon partnering Bearman in 2025, with Hulkenberg going to Sauber.

But for Komatsu to help Hulkenberg unlock the 37-year-old’s full potential after he replaced Guenther Steiner as the team principal of Haas in January, the Japanese engineer had to be honest. Komatsu never felt Hulkenberg shone at managing his tyres and had to accept that.

“You’re telling the driver, ‘You’ve got to, let’s say, lose tenths in certain corners’. How painful is that?,” Komatsu told Motorsport.com. “But then you’ve got to understand that, ‘If you do this, you see the payback in a good way – if you don’t do it, this is the result of it’.

“But unless you experience it and see on the data, feel it back-to-back, it’s very difficult to accept it black and white.

“I don’t think tyre management was ever his strength. If you look at the previous races he used to do with Renault, I don’t think it was his strength and, obviously, these tyres are so sensitive.”

Nico Hulkenberg proved the merits of Ayao Komatsu’s help in the Singapore Grand Prix

Tyre management was often Haas’ downfall last year as their VF-23 tore through the Pirelli rubber fitted to Magnussen and Hulkenberg’s cars. Upgrades also failed to help change the trend throughout the campaign, with Haas even finishing 2023 splitting their two set-ups.

But progress has been very welcome this year, with Hulkenberg able to defend from Sergio Perez of Red Bull for 32 laps in the Singapore Grand Prix and bag two points for Haas in P9. The German made his only pit stop on Lap 29 of 62 and spent the rest defending doggedly.

If Hulkenberg had not adhered to Komatsu’s honest advice, the German would have likely slipped down the order and seen Haas leave the Singapore GP without any points. He had also qualified in P6 but Magnussen started in P14 and would retire on L57 with a puncture.