Haas crew boss Ayao Komatsu revealed he “by no means anticipated” Alpine to safe its double podium in Brazil that vaulted it to sixth within the System 1 constructors’ standings – however he pointed to the optimistic efficiency displayed by future driver Esteban Ocon.
Alpine has struggled all 12 months following a poor opening to the season with no factors till spherical six in Miami, but reworked its marketing campaign with a surprising 2-3 at Interlagos final weekend.
Ocon, who completed second forward of team-mate Pierre Gasly and at one stage pulled out a niche to Max Verstappen while main, will be part of Haas in 2025 to accomplice Oliver Bearman in an all-new line-up and that gave Komatsu a silver lining to what was a disappointing weekend general.
“I by no means anticipated Alpine to attain a double podium however we all the time knew that something can occur,” Komatsu, whose crew scored zero factors on the Brazilian Grand Prix, advised Motorsport.com.
“In these sorts of chaotic races, anybody can rating 15 factors. I wasn’t anticipating 33 factors, but it surely occurred. Congratulations to Alpine, their automotive was mega in moist circumstances, so fast.
“If there’s a optimistic, Esteban, our driver for subsequent 12 months, drove so nicely. So I despatched a message to congratulate him right away. It’s a must to respect your opposition, they did an incredible job, they’d the right automotive for these circumstances.”
Ayao Komatsu, Group Principal, Haas F1 Group, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Group, Mark Slade, Race Engineer, Haas F1 Group
Photograph by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Pictures
Haas was comfortably sixth earlier than that outcome, with Nico Hulkenberg persevering with his season-long tempo and Kevin Magnussen gathering momentum, solely to overlook the weekend by sickness.
However following Ocon and Gasly’s performances within the treacherous circumstances, in addition to RB’s double factors end, the three groups are separated by simply 5 factors heading into the ultimate three rounds of the season.
“I believe I stated with eight races to go, a pleasant hole to Alpine, we simply need to be on it each single occasion – that hasn’t been the case,” conceded Komatsu, whose crew is now seventh within the championship.
“In Austin, we dropped off on Sunday, [in Brazil] sure, the automotive isn’t fast sufficient on intermediate tyres however operationally we must always have completed a lot a lot better.
Max Verstappen, Pink Bull Racing, 1st place, Esteban Ocon, Alpine F1 Group, 2nd place, Pierre Gasly, Alpine F1 Group, third place, Pierre Wache, Technical Director, Pink Bull Racing, on the rostrum
Photograph by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Pictures
“From SQ, there was not a single session which was adequate so now we have to take a look at ourselves and say if we need to be on the high of the midfield groups, now we have to enhance operationally.
“The optimistic is should you have a look at our drivers, Ollie in SQ3, with no management field failure he ought to have been preventing for P6. So within the dry, we had the tempo however on the inters in moist circumstances, we did not have that a lot tempo. However nonetheless, we must always have come away with factors.
“I simply have to inspire individuals, so the final three races, we simply need to be on it. Then hopefully, if they’re dry races, we must always be capable to rating factors.”
