‘AMERICA’S ONLY F1 TEAM’ READY TO UNLEASH BIG INVESTMENT IF ONE KEY CONDITION MET

Ayao Komatsu, the Haas team principal, has revealed America’s only F1 team are ready to invest heavily if they can continue to show progress on track.

Following the departure of Komatsu’s predecessor Guenther Steiner over the winter, Haas have enjoyed a productive start to the F1 2024 season and currently sit seventh – ahead of Williams, Alpine and Sauber – in the Constructors’ standings.

Haas F1 team ready to invest

Haas have scored points in three of the opening five races, with Nico Hulkenberg – who announced on Friday that he will join Sauber next season ahead of Audi’s highly anticipated F1 2026 entry – finishing in the top 10 in Saudi Arabia, Australia and China.

Eponymous owner Gene Haas has been regularly criticised to invest in the team since their arrival on the grid in 2016, with Haas finishing bottom of the Constructors’ Championship for two of the last three years.

Komatsu has revealed that Mr Haas, who has already committed to funding a new motorhome for 2025, is ready to splash the cash as long as the team’s form can be sustained.

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According to Motorsport.com, he said: “I got appointed officially on 10 January [and] Gene’s message from day one was absolutely clear: he said he’s got money, he is ready to invest it, but we’ve got to show him we can use the money responsibly, efficiently.

“He doesn’t want to see the waste. There’s a reason he’s a billionaire, he doesn’t like to waste money.

“When I looked at it, there’s so many areas we can improve. That’s why I wasn’t too worried about his initial message: ‘Come on, you guys need to show me you are using my money responsibly, then get to a certain position, then I think about the investment’.

“But I know for a fact that he’ll really invest when we get to that stage. And already he’s commissioned a new motorhome for next year, which is not a small investment.

“And also we are now recruiting reasonably – from our size of people, a decent chunk of new recruitments is approved.

“Gene is now actioning what he told me, so I’m not worried that he’s not going to invest.

“He will invest. But we’ve got to do our part, which is to use his money responsibly.”

Read next: The seven potential Haas candidates for F1 2025 seat after Nico Hulkenberg exit

2024-04-27T18:03:57Z dg43tfdfdgfd