2024 Season - News and Rumours

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by S griffin

but you wonder how much interest Gene is putting in.

Being as he flies in to almost every race, and takes an active part at the track, I'd say he is quite interested.

[bjohnsonsmith]

The Race.com has quite an indepth article on Komatsu.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/w...-ayao-komatsu/

[crmalcolm]

I think what S griffin was referring to (please correct if I'm wrong) is that Komatsu is an unknown qty as a team principal.

When he made the statement 'they would have been better keeping what they know, rather than an unknown like that' - I took it as meaning he thinks they would be better with team principal who has done the role before (a known) rather than someone taking it on for the first time (an unknown).

And when broadrun96 responded with 'Can you provide sources to support his team management skills are a known commodity, ie when was he team principal before' - this again was to the question of whether his abilities as a team principal are known, not whether anyone in the paddock has heard of the guy.

Unless I've caught the wrong end of what the posters were saying?

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by peebee2

Being as he flies in to almost every race, and takes an active part at the track, I'd say he is quite interested.

It's reasonable to question his long term interest (not how many races he attends) based on his own comments 4 years ago:

"I'm just kind of waiting to see how this season starts off," he said when asked about what his thoughts were for the future.

"If we have another bad year, then it would not be that favourable [to stay]. We did five years. That was really the test – we're going to do this for five years, see how it goes and evaluate it and then we'll decide whether to go forward. I'm not saying we won't be back. It has to be evaluated. To do it for another five years, though, that would be a big commitment."
"It's just a challenge. It's a difficult sport. It's extremely expensive. It's time consuming and it puts a huge amount of stress on the teams to compete. It's not really beneficial to the teams that aren't in the top four or five."

We're coming up to the next 5 years he refers to. I guess it could have been phrased "but you wonder how much long term commitment Gene has"?

[Richard C]

And of course William Storey (via the Rich Energy Twitter account and not his own!) takes the opportunity to have a kick at Steiner while he is down on the ground.

https://twitter.com/rich_energy/stat...52189276819834

Auf Wiedersehen 'Herr Vanker'.
An astute move from Gene Haas. Steiner was incompetent & duplicitous.
There is vastly more performance potential to be tapped with Ferrari as partners. Engineering can now be the focus #Haas #Steiner #F1

Richard

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Richard C

* Haas remains a believer in the current structure of strong partnership with Ferrari. And that is likely to continue into and through 2026.

given the history of performances by small teams which have significant ties to Ferrari for both parts and support...do they ever do well?

that one time Haas 5th in the championship (which to some may have sort of asterisk next to it) and i suppose Alfa in 2022 but otherwise being a Ferrari customer team doesnt really conjure up images of success.

one way or another, long term success or improvement probably needs that issue to be address more so than the TP situation?

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Richard C

And of course William Storey (via the Rich Energy Twitter account and not his own!) takes the opportunity to have a kick at Steiner while he is down on the ground.

https://twitter.com/rich_energy/stat...52189276819834



Richard

Can't we just ignore this idiot?

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Can't we just ignore this idiot?

Being serious here... maybe I shouldn't post anything he says?

I mostly do because usually he is just saying something dumb and I post here for entertainment value. But by reposting it is expanding the reach of what he says. I am actually surprised he didn't take a bigger swing at Steiner.

Richard

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by Greem

Is there some sort of rule that says a person can't be promoted into a role before they've done that role elsewhere? Seems like a recipe for a shrinking closed shop to me.

My workplace is very much like this. Started as a small 'family' company. Now has grown to over 200 staff.

They have promoted and developed from within, which I am all for when the circumstances dictate - but now we have a bunch of 22-25yr olds with no leadership experience - or would even know what that word truly means - in leadership roles.

Their qualifications? "my mum knows the director's mum so I got a job here straight after school and have have grown up as the company has".

And believe me. It does not work.

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

given the history of performances by small teams which have significant ties to Ferrari for both parts and support...do they ever do well?

that one time Haas 5th in the championship (which to some may have sort of asterisk next to it) and i suppose Alfa in 2022 but otherwise being a Ferrari customer team doesnt really conjure up images of success.

one way or another, long term success or improvement probably needs that issue to be address more so than the TP situation?

Sauber 2001 was probably the most impactful season for a Ferrari customer team

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Haas are a serious team

They are? I just don't see it.

[Greem]

Originally Posted by Skam85

And believe me. It does not work.

I once had an extremely painful conversation with a senior manager at my workplace where I patiently explained that what they were good at was *management*, not leadership.

They really were an excellent manager - from the perspective of procedures and adherence thereto.

They couldn't, however, have lead their way out of a wet paper bag when it was raining.

It felt simultaneously very very satisfying and nerve-wrackingly awkward having to explain the difference between the two. As you may imagine, it was not well received.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Greem

I once had an extremely painful conversation with a senior manager at my workplace where I patiently explained that what they were good at was *management*, not leadership.

When mentoring new employees (particularly those right out of college or nearly so) I will tell them that you don't have to be in a managerial position to be a "leader". As you say... Leadership and Management ARE two different things. ANYONE can be a leader or provide leadership.

I can't speak to if Steiner is/was a good leader or not, but I expect we all have worked under poor leadership before and it can be soul crushing.

Richard

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by peebee2

He’s hardly an unknown!

What’s he known for? Perhaps talk about him a bit and maybe venture an opinion on whether this translates to team principle of Haas for this discussion forum!

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by Adam43

What’s he known for? Perhaps talk about him a bit and maybe venture an opinion on whether this translates to team principle of Haas for this discussion forum!

For me he was one of those "oh yeah he's that guy" that I've always seen at F1 races on the tele and clips and pit walls and stuff. Knew his name and knew he's been around for a while but not much else past that.

Like that guy from Ferrari that's been around since MSC days and that tall guy at Red Bull in the garage when Max wins.

Guys that always just seem to be there

[Adam43]

And the podium watch guy.

I too don’t know much about him, not much is widely known about him.

Which would be why it would be interesting to hear someone’s view on him. If nothing else there must be some stories from the longevity.

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by Skam85

They are? I just don't see it.

Originally Posted by Adam43

And the podium watch guy.

I too don’t know much about him, not much is widely known about him.

Which would be why it would be interesting to hear someone’s view on him. If nothing else there must be some stories from the longevity.

Is he still doing it? I hardly notice him anymore. The podium watch and cap guy that is

[AndreasDavour]

What I don't understand in this Haas affair is why the car hasn't been developed? Where they so lost at sea they didn't even know where to start? The update they did roll out didn't work at all.



Gene Haas claims they operate quite close to the spending limit, so clearly they are inefficient, but then why didn't they throw money at the car? What did they do with their money?

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by Skam85

For me he was one of those "oh yeah he's that guy" that I've always seen at F1 races on the tele and clips and pit walls and stuff. Knew his name and knew he's been around for a while but not much else past that.

Like that guy from Ferrari that's been around since MSC days and that tall guy at Red Bull in the garage when Max wins.

Guys that always just seem to be there

Woody Allen made film called Zelig. You've just described the premise behind it.

Originally Posted by Adam43

And the podium watch guy.

I too don’t know much about him, not much is widely known about him.

Which would be why it would be interesting to hear someone’s view on him. If nothing else there must be some stories from the longevity.

Who?

[Greem]

Alexandre Molina, FIA employee from 1997 and former Podium Ceremonies Manager for F1. Now the CEO of the FIM E-Bike championship.

I dare say he's got some F1 stories to tell eventually!

[Guthrie]

Originally Posted by AndreasDavour

What I don't understand in this Haas affair is why the car hasn't been developed? Where they so lost at sea they didn't even know where to start? The update they did roll out didn't work at all.



Gene Haas claims they operate quite close to the spending limit, so clearly they are inefficient, but then why didn't they throw money at the car? What did they do with their money?

Yes, they seem short of ideas about what to do to get better results and it seems they are making decisions in the panic mode.

[AndreasDavour]

Originally Posted by Guthrie

Yes, they seem short of ideas about what to do to get better results and it seems they are making decisions in the panic mode.

In addition, doing too little. I think Gene is correct in that they need to work better with what they've got. But, he doesn't give the impression to have much visions.


I already miss Binotto and I will miss Steiner.

[P38 in workshop]

Just a thought,given that Gunther Steiner has such a high profile,courtesy of Drive to Survive,would it be a smart move for Andretti to hire him as an adviser?

[veeten]

No, and that's because you should never pick around in others' trash, thinking that you will find something of value.

Andretti (father and son) have a lot of experience in dealing with Formula 1, both past and present unlike Haas which was more of a whim than anything else. They know whom they will hire when the time comes, so that's not an issue.

[peebee2]

On reflection it's something of a gamble from Gene Haas.

I am sure Guenther is expensive and also rather grabs the headlines, which could be a double-edged sword. He's certainly experienced, and a cult figure, but actually wasn't massively rated before Haas.

While he's well known and experienced in F1, putting Komatsu-san in charge is a risk in that he is a senior engineer and the team failings seem to have primarily been in engineering.

Having said that, if you're last you really can't get too much worse.