Komatsu feared "something was broken" on Haas F1 car amid "severe" issue

Haas' performance at the Australian GP was worrying, and there is no short-term fix in sight

Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu admitted he thought something was broken when his Formula 1 outfit logged its initial FP1 laps at the Australian Grand Prix, and doesn't expect an immediate fix to its high-speed corner problems.

After following a similar run plan in Bahrain testing to what it had run in 2024, by sacrificing all performance runs for long-run pace and tyre management exploration, Haas did not have many indications of its true pace versus the rest of the field.

But the team arrived in Australia propping up the order, which Komatsu revealed had surprised the American squad. A pace deficit in high-speed corners, particularly Turns 9 and 10, was viewed as the main culprit.

Komatsu explained that losing a smidgen of performance in the low-speed corners to apply it to the higher-speed turns on the circuit was the only way to bring the car into a "respectable" performance window.

"I don't think it's a one-off," Komatsu said. "It was a big surprise, we weren't expecting that whatsoever based on Bahrain testing.

"Bahrain testing wasn't perfect, but we weren't expecting it anywhere near as bad as Melbourne. In FP1, on a very fast lap when the car went out. I thought either something was broken or something is completely out of the ballpark.

"Then when we established, right, nothing's broken, we've got a big issue. It was pretty clear the problem was in high speed, Turn 9, Turn 10. Then we just worked and worked to make those corners better with the expense of low speed.

Ayao Komatsu, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

"But even then, low-speed corners are okay, not great – but compared to the issue we had in Turns 9 and 10, it's night and day. So then by Q1, we managed to get Turn 9 more or less respectable. But Turn 10, still nowhere.

"We understand why, but with the issues we have, we cannot solve it for all corners, right? So I think at least we took correct steps during the weekend."

Komatsu said that the team planned to develop its way through the problem and "tackle it head-on" rather than give up on it and focus on 2026, as the team feels it has an understanding of where the problem lies.

He reckoned that the outfit would not be able to implement a solution for a number of races, given the severity of the problem. Komatsu believes it is related to the car's interface with the ground at low ride heights.

"I think that's the best we could do with the Melbourne circuit characteristics, that our car's weakness that we discovered in Melbourne and then characteristics of Turn 10 as a corner. At least then we have clear understanding of what the issue is.

"Then next point is to understand which part of the car we need to modify, or which part of the car has the sensitivity to solve this performance issue. So up to this point, we are reasonably clear.

"Then of course, next is, how are we going to find a solution? Some of them can be reasonably short-term solutions, but some of them will be an iterative process, both in CFD and wind tunnel.

"So you're not going to see a solution for some races – it's pretty severe."