Haas has made appreciable progress on the problem that blighted its F1 marketing campaign final 12 months, which was brought on by a basic aerodynamic imbalance that meant the VF-23 may get its tyres working properly for qualifying, however would then chew by them in races.
In getting ready its VF-24 2024 challenger in pre-season testing, Haas spent most of its time in Bahrain finishing long-run efforts in a bid to cut back its tyre drawback by the design modifications it had made within the low season.
These appeared to repay, with Hulkenberg scoring within the season’s second spherical and Komatsu having felt “we will race this 12 months within the midfield” from the season-opener earlier than Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen doubled up in Australia.
In final weekend’s opening race in Shanghai, Hulkenberg plummeted from a Thirteenth-place beginning spot to complete final, blaming “a flawed activate the set-up” as he rapidly encountered extreme tyre degradation whereas working within the pack.
After Hulkenberg scored some extent with tenth within the following day’s GP, Komatsu defined how his driver’s inconsistent weekend highlighted the high-quality margins problem Haas remains to be dealing with to keep away from excessive ranges of tyre put on.
When requested if Haas felt the previous tyre scenario had been totally solved or if Hulkenberg’s dash scenario had caught it abruptly, Komatsu replied: “I would not say it is gone, gone”.
“As an illustration, we anticipated sure issues [in China], we skilled one thing completely different,” he instructed Motorsport.com.
Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-24, Valtteri Bottas, Kick Sauber C44
Photograph by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Photos
“So, you may have a look at Nico’s dash – it is not solely the tyre drawback, however a end result of some mixed elements, [but] we killed Nico’s tyre.
“So, I can not say nonetheless [that] 100% we’re utterly over it. I feel this circuit, with this temperature, after which these compounds uncovered some new areas.
“However as a result of we targeted on that I feel [it’s] one thing we will work on to enhance to cowl.
“[If] we come right here once more, we’ll in all probability give you barely completely different configurations, which we’ve not acquired at this minute.”
“For those who have a look at Kevin’s [sprint] race – a strong race, completed in P10. However his tempo wasn’t nice.
“The best way Nico dropped again will not be one issue – it is a mixture of things. However you may see how delicate it’s.
“For those who get into sure circumstances, situations, if you do not have the margin to maintain the tyres in state, that is what can occur.
“So then, studying from that, we have to then have a automotive – the whole lot, set-up configuration, driving – to present ourselves a bit extra margin in order that if sure conditions occur, the tyres not gonna die [and] we’re not utterly out of it.”
Komatsu added that “it is good that we put it proper for this [main] race” through returning to a earlier set-up association Haas knew would work for the tyres over longer stints quite than some “slight variations” it tried that “really made the automotive worse”, as Hulkenberg was referring too.
“Nico’s [GP] tempo, it wasn’t wonderful, however nonetheless, it is fairly good [to score a point],” he concluded.
