2024-01-31 22:14:52
Published: 1st Feb, 2024 at 3:44 AMUpdated: about 4 hours ago
Formula 1
The 2024 Formula 1 season begins on March 2. While there have not been many changes in the teams and drivers, there have been some major changes in the team management. Haas, Alfa Douri, Williams and other teams have had new faces at the helm. Each team has started to travel towards their new destinations. What changes have taken place? What are the expectations of team leaders?
The biggest change of the new season is Günther Steiner, who has been axed as Haas’ team principal. The team fired Steiner, who had been in the position for about 10 years, a few days ago. The decision is said to have been taken as the team has been lagging behind in the points table for the past few years. The 2018 Formula 1 season has not ended well for the team. The team finished ninth in 2019 and 2020 and finished last in 2021 without a single point. In 2022, the team recovered somewhat and finished eighth. But last season was relegated to last place.
Haas team owner Gene Haas said, “This is our eighth year. He has participated in more than 160 races and has yet to get a single podium. Moreover, for the last few years we have been finishing ninth or tenth. I didn’t say anything that this was Gunther’s fault. But this seemed like the perfect moment to embark on another path towards change. Because the path we have taken so far has not yielded the right result. In the end it all depends on the function. Steiner was a very nice man. Good character. But I don’t want to be another tenth of this!” He said that.
This dramatic result has caused a stir in the Formula 1 arena. Although the Haas team languished in last place, Günther Steiner became one of the most popular team managers. As he could talk directly about anything, his personality was liked by many. In the Netflix series Drive to Survive, his angry talk with his teammates became a big trend. Many people watching the series became his fans. Because Netflix is an American company and Haas is the only American team, at one point Gunther Steiner was given more space in the series. In fact, he is the hero of the series. His absence from the Formula 1 arena is a loss to no one, but to the Drive to Survive team.
Speaking about the decision, Gunther Steiner said that it was sad that he could not say goodbye to the team. He said he was informed of Jean Haas’ decision by phone, adding that he was unaware of the team’s future. He said the project was well underway 10 years ago and noted that Haas had not adapted to the changing Formula 1 environment in the past few years like other teams.
Ayo Komatsu has now been appointed as the team principal of the Haas team. His Formula 1 journey began as a race engineer at Renault. Having performed well there, he has since held various responsibilities in Lotus and Haas teams. Komatsu, 47, hails from Japan. Now taking on a bigger responsibility, he says the reception he has received has given him strength. And, “I am not here to fill Gunther Steiner’s place. He is a completely different person. We had a good relationship. Has been good value. I don’t intend to fill his place as a character. I am a completely different person. “I think team owner Gene Haas put me in this position because he chose a different path,” said Komatsu.
Alfa Douri has gone through a bigger change than the Haas team. Franz Tost, who has been at the helm of the team for 18 years since its inception as Toro Rosso, has stepped down. Credited with shaping the Formula 1 careers of many young drivers, Tost has been in the Formula 1 arena for over 20 years. Speaking about his Formula 1 career, he said, “I don’t feel happy or proud.” When he took over as team principal of Toro Rosso, he stated that his goal was to take the team to fifth place in the teams’ points table. But he could not perform it. The team (Toro Rosso/Alfa Dori) finished sixth in 2008, 2019 and 2021. Toast said this because he could not achieve his goal.
Tost’s place is now filled by Laurent Meekies. A French national, he served as Ferrari’s racing director until last year. Red Bull management had to send several engineers to Ferrari in order to buy Meekies from Ferrari. Red Bull have taken a huge risk in realizing that someone like Meekis is necessary to fill the place of a veteran like Tost and achieve their ambitious fifth place. They realize that the development of Alfa Douri is essential to the development of the Red Bull team.
Toast Gunther Steiner
Another major change is the appointment of Pat Frye as the team’s Chief Technical Officer (CTO) for Williams. He was the CTO of the Alpine team and has now moved to Williams. His Formula 1 journey began at Renault’s previous team, Benetton. He then moved on to McLaren and Ferrari, again
He returned to Renault (then Alpine) in 2020. He made a big change in the Alpine team and also said that he has taken this decision with the aim of creating a new team.
Laurent Meekies
“I rejoined the Renault team with the intention of making the team I started in the first place better again. The first three years went very well. We all worked hard there. Even though we were fifth, there was a big gap between us and fourth. We continued to build great cars, reaching fourth place in one way. But I wanted to go one step further. The desire to build a winning team. Success is everything here! But the team lacked the drive to win. They did nothing to get above fourth place. So I decided to go on a new journey,” said Fry.
Now with Williams, he cannot build a winning team as he claims. But, he can give the desired improvement. It has tremendous potential. The team has a promising young driver in Alex Alban. Alban did very well with a car that wasn’t very fast. He can do better if he gets a better car.
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