From Tokyo to Coventry: Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu on his journey to F1’s ‘piranha club’
EXCLUSIVE: The Japanese engineer by trade is leading a team currently positioned above Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. He speaks to Kieran Jackson, ahead of his home race in Suzuka, about his road to the top-table, ignoring Drive to Survive and why Ollie Bearman ‘has no ceiling at all’
In another world, Ayao Komatsu would be the one asking the questions. “I actually wanted to be an investigative journalist,” the Haas F1 team principal reveals. “I wanted to do journalism that the police and the media wouldn’t touch.
My own investigations, my own evidence, to get to the truth. “But Formula 1 then became everything. A friend told me I had to do maths and physics and I thought ‘Oh s***.
’ I wasn’t a scientific guy. I looked at engineers and wished I had their brains. But it didn’t matter how much time I needed to do in the classroom… I was going to make it to Formula 1.
” A wise choice. After two decades in the sport, Komatsu is now a member of the sport’s infamous “piranha club”, the term used to categorise the group of F1 team bosses. Except, there are no shark-like tendencies from the Japanese engineer; more a presence of low-key rationality.
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