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Term
team principal
The absolute boss of a Formula 1 team. They make the big decisions about who drives the cars, how the money is spent, and how the team runs during a race weekend.
Person
Ayao Komatsu
The big boss of the Haas Formula 1 team. He is an engineer who worked his way up to lead the entire racing team.
Person
Guenther Steiner
The former boss of the Haas F1 team who became incredibly famous for his funny, sweary, and honest personality on the Netflix show Drive to Survive.
Person
James Vowles
The boss of the Williams F1 team, who used to be the master strategist behind Mercedes' many championship wins.
Person
Jolyon Palmer
A former F1 driver from Britain who now works as a popular commentator and expert analyst, explaining the details of races to fans.
Person
Nico Hülkenberg
A veteran German race car driver known for being very fast and reliable, who has raced for several different F1 teams.
Person
Oliver Bearman
A young, exciting British driver who made a surprise debut for Ferrari in 2024 and was signed to race full-time for the Haas team.
Term
budget cap
A spending limit that F1 teams must follow so that rich teams can't just buy their way to winning by spending infinite money.
Term
wind tunnel
A giant tube with massive fans used to blow air over a model of a race car. It helps engineers see how air flows around the car to make it go faster around corners.
Person
Adrian Newey
A legendary engineer who designs Formula 1 cars. His designs have won numerous world championships, making him one of the most famous and sought-after minds in racing history.
Term
stewards
The referees of a Formula 1 race who decide if a driver broke the rules and what punishment they should get.
Place
Silverstone
A famous, very fast race track in England where the very first Formula 1 race was held in 1950.
Person
Lando Norris
A popular and very fast British Formula 1 driver who races for the McLaren team.
LIVE
Hello everybody and welcome to the British Grand Prix.
And of course, to F1 Explains, the official Formula One podcast that is here to answer
your questions on the sport.
Maybe this is the first time you've ever heard us.
We know there's a lot of new listeners joining us this year, if that's the case, welcome.
If you've been here since the start, you're equally as welcome.
How this podcast works is you email f1explains at f1.com.
And then I, Christian Hugill, explore the Formula One Paddock to find the best person to answer
those questions.
As somebody wheels past a forklift thing, because we're talking to you at the very start
of the Grand Prix weekend, really the Paddock has only just finished being built.
We're at the very start of the Grand Prix weekend and we're stood outside a metallic,
shiny building that is currently being window cleaned.
One of those squidgy window cleaner things is being used to make sure it looks super
shiny.
It's black, it's red.
It is of course, if it's black and red, the Haas Motorhome.
This week it's one of our Ask a Team principle episodes.
We do this a few times a year.
We get on a team principle to mop up all the questions you sent into the inbox about the
role of the team principle.
They're always very interesting episodes because one of the things I think I've learned most
about doing this podcast over the years is many people can have the same job title in
this case, team principle.
But actually the job can look and feel and have different responsibilities across the
Paddock.
We were with Audi the other week who of course have the head of F1 project in Matteo Bonotto
and a racing director in Alan McNish.
You have Mercedes where Toto Wolfe is also the CEO and the team principle.
Of course McLaren, that's different.
They have their CEO with Zach Brown and then Andrea Stella as their team principle.
So it's always interesting to look at how the different teams operate, how they're
made up.
And of course the team principle of Haas is Ayo Kamatsu.
He took over from Gunter Steiner who was of course iconic in the role in many ways really
but Ayo has put his own stamp on the team.
He's been very effective at squeezing out results from the team.
There was an immediate upturn in fortunes when Ayo took over and Haas are this season
in that competitive midfield battle where the likes of Alpine, Williams and Haas are
all vying for points.
So you've been sending questions about the role of the team principle and it just so
happens that Ayo has the answers.
Ayo, welcome to F1 Explains.
This time last year you did one of our live shows on the main stage.
Now we're in your office.
This is the second team principle office we've been in.
Would you like to hazard a guess as to which other team principle has invited us into their
office?
Um, is that a Toto?
Not Toto?
No.
I've interviewed George in Toto's office.
Oh really?
George had been kicked out.
James Valves.
Oh really?
James had us in.
OK.
Nice of him.
Nice map.
So Ayo, we have questions on the role of a team principle from our listeners.
Would you like to have a stab at answering some of them?
I'll try.
I'm sure you'll do a good job.
You're very well qualified for the job.
I'm not sure.
Of course you are.
We're going to start at one of our favourite places, Austin, Texas, which is where Mariah
lives.
Mariah says, hi Ayo, what makes a fast F1 driver?
And what makes one driver faster than another, especially if they're in the same machinery?
Is it confidence through the corners?
Better reaction times on the starting grid.
More general recklessness.
Thank you and a howdy and a yeehaw from Austin, Texas.
And that's from Mariah.
We say howdy back.
That's a very, very good question.
Honestly, there are many things.
Obviously, first and foremost, you've got the ability to drive.
If you look at the kids in the go-kart, regardless of their experience, they're always first
straight away.
So you've got that natural ability.
They are athletes, they are sportsmen.
But then that natural ability itself is absolutely not good enough to succeed in Formula
1.
You've got to get best out of your team, so you've got a really good cognitive ability.
And then also, when you're driving, your driving has to be so automatic because there's so
many other information you've got to absorb and execute or digest and execute.
So while you're driving flat out, how much brain space you've got left, how much capacity
you're using just to drive, as low as that possible.
That means all the other things come at you, whether the instruction from engineers are
thinking about using tires or not to use tires, et cetera.
More spare capacity you've got, you can extract more from yourself.
And also, pressure in Formula 1, it's crazy.
It's nothing like any other cities.
So again, having a good team built around you to get yourself in the best position to
perform.
Jolien Palmer, you'll be aware of his work, explained this really well on a previous
episode of F1 Explains, where he said that he was looking at the data in comparison to
his teammate at the time at Renault, Nico Hülkenberg.
And there was elements where, for example, they could see on the data that Nico was breaking
later into a particular corner.
So that might help.
But Jolien was saying to us that he just didn't have the ability in him to do what Nico was
doing in that particular corner.
I'm imagining for all the data in the world, you sometimes just rely on that sheer innate
ability, which is almost hard to explain, isn't it?
But this is what I said at the beginning, right?
You got to have that natural talent, natural speed, that ability to drive.
That's not something you can teach people.
Like, same as footballers, right?
You cannot teach everyone to be messy, obviously.
It's exactly the same.
You know, you cannot teach kids, everybody, to be like,
Oli, Biermann, no matter how much work you put into it, there is a certain level of natural
talent you really need.
But then in Formula One, in order to harness that talent to produce a consistent result,
to maximize your potential, it's a lot more than that.
For instance, Jolien talked about looking at the data, right?
That's the basics.
Any driver will do that.
But then to then understand, OK, provided you got ability to do it, but you got to know how to
unlock the potential.
Of course, you got to adapt the car, so you have to work with the engineers.
But you got to work with yourself, whether it's a physical thing or mental thing,
or feeling thing, what is it?
So it touches all aspects.
And then top drivers, you got to create that performing environment around yourself.
If you surround yourself by somebody who tells you what you want to hear,
you're not going to get there.
Is it a hard part of the role of a team principal on a human level?
To have to make those calls on drivers, because you are judging them on,
fundamentally, your job is to make sure they score points for your team.
Is that tricky on a human level?
Because you might be dealing with, and I'm sure you'll have had this in your career,
drivers who you like, but who ultimately aren't good enough for the job.
That must be tricky as a human.
It is tricky, but it's my job as a, it's a professionalism, matter of professionalism.
For instance, you talked about, you know, Julian talked about Nico Hülkenberg, right?
Nico is somebody who I really respect greatly, and his professionalism is amazing.
But I really like him as a person, human being, right?
I call him as a friend.
But again, the professional relationship I managed to build with Nico,
throughout my actually first year as a team principal in 24, that is a benchmark for me.
Because we both really invested in how to make this cargo quicker,
how to get performance out of you as a driver, performance out of the team.
And then we really worked very well together, and we had huge respect for each other.
So we could have any conversation.
You know, sometimes you have to have the hard conversation, right?
But if you don't have the foundation of trust and respect,
you cannot have those hard conversations, because then other party is going to take it personally.
But with Nico, and none of those issues, because we really had that very good foundation at
really high level, that you were able to tackle anything head on.
Then again, that is something as a driver needs to be able to do.
And I need to be able to do that.
But again, that's just a build on the relationship.
Really interesting insight.
I hope Mariah, that has answered your question.
We're going to stay in America for our next question.
David is from New York, but originally of Sydney.
David says, my question is on team sizes.
What would be the rough size of the teams on the current F1 grid?
I know you're going to say to me that the teams very much differ in size, don't they?
Yeah, yeah. I mean, the bigger teams are more than 1,200 people, 1,300 people, right?
And then again, I know the other even the midfield teams towards the top of the midfields,
they are just under 1,000, 950.
And even some of the midfield teams have more than 1,000 people.
And then we have 400 people.
So it's a very different spectrum on the grid.
And forgive me if this sounds obvious.
How much of a help are more people?
Because you've just given us numbers.
But what are those sorts of teams who have got more people?
What are they able to do with those people?
Yeah, I mean, size is not everything.
But of course, the size helps, the resource helps, but you still got to put it together.
But if you just think it very simplistically, let's say we are 400 people,
I said the bigger teams are 1,200 people.
So if you look at where the performance is coming from, let's say aerodynamics,
aerodynamicist, the job of like one person in our team could be for the same job,
company like Ferrari or Mercedes probably have three people on there.
So that means three times more potential to come up with good idea.
More brain power.
Faster, everything, accuracy.
And then even in the non-performance department, finance department, these days efficiency
is the key in our cost performance, especially under the budget cap era.
Yes, we are not at the budget cap yet, but last year we are on the budget cap.
Then bigger teams, they will have, I would say,
close to 10 times or 78 times more people than us in the finance department.
So then again, the accuracy and then efficiency they can provide with those expertise in the
finance department will see through the performance.
So yes, the numbers helps, numbers, not everything, because you got to put it together,
you got to get people to work together.
But it's not like I'm sitting here saying we are 400 people, it's fine, it's not,
we need to grow, but we need to grow in a manner that we can keep this focus and efficiency.
And on that, if I may be as bold as to offer an opinion, it strikes me that one of your
successes as a team principal is from the minute you came in, you seemed and do correct me if
I'm wrong to be saying, I think we can sort of squeeze more out of this, that there is more
capability in that team.
So that must be a large part of your job when you are managing a team with fewer people,
working out how you can get more, that's a fewer people than your rivals.
Yeah, for sure.
Like when I took on this job in the beginning of 24, we are 260 people, 260, you know?
But then even then, I knew that we can get more out of those 260 people.
And they're not saying that that's the right number, we need to grow, like we said.
But I know that in parallel, we can get more out of these 260 people.
And to be honest, then we moved on, we improved the team, etc.
But then now we say we are 400 people, but like you said, I know we can do more with 400 people.
I know we can get more better result out of these 400 people.
So there's room for improvement.
But at the same time, I know that in the background, we need to grow as a team.
So we got to do that in parallel.
A similar question actually from Julius in Lithuania, hello Julius.
Julius says, how do teams plan and prioritise development work across the season?
Are small upgrades like one new part done differently to packages of upgrades?
Where lots of new things are done at the same time and who's in charge of the upgrade plan?
Right, again, very, very good question.
So who's in charge of the upgrade plan?
That's a senior management group.
We have a programme management, we have a technical director, head of aero,
head of performance and also myself.
And then of course, we have a strategy, baseline strategy throughout the season.
Even the year starts, right?
And then whether it's a final year of the stable regulation or brand new year like this year,
first year of the brand new regulation, it's the strategy different.
Of course, because this year, because the regulations brand new,
you'd expect people not to be getting best out of it earlier in the season.
So that means people is going to aggressively put upgrades on the car earlier in the season.
So that kind of thing is in consideration.
But of course, we don't have an infinite amount of money, right?
So you got to decide, okay, we got what looks like a decent package.
Is that good enough?
If we do this package, how many more packages can we do?
So you got to really judge that saying, let's say, you know, talk about a big package for argument's sake.
If you can do, let's say, four big packages throughout the season,
that four big packages, the timing and then the performance you gain,
what is big, right?
In terms of lap time gain, you got to judge that very well,
because if you wait too long, you're going to be introducing upgrade too late.
But if you compromise too early, you're not putting enough performance on the car.
So that's a judgment call, but also depending on where you are on the sporting result.
If you're fighting with your direct competitors,
then if you had some margin, maybe you can afford to wait one more race, right?
But if you're neck and neck, you might want to get next upgrade straight away.
But of course, there's a delay in terms of when you finish working
wind tunnel to the parts on the car.
So you got to forecast those things, but there's always those judgment calls.
It's sort of like a chess game, isn't it?
So when you bring them in, your counterpart, Aston Martin, Adrian Newey,
has been talking about wanting to do what you said.
They're a bigger upgrade, not smaller upgrade.
So yeah, it's all interesting.
And also, depending on what your issue is, how deep is your fundamental issue?
If you got big problem in the car, is that the one big issue,
the fundamental thing you got to solve, then if that's the case,
it's likely it's going to take more time.
But if you got, let's say, I wouldn't say smaller, but more issue on the surface,
that's something you may be able to sort of quicker, right?
So really, depending on what is your Achilles heel on your car.
Haley is in California.
Haley says, hi, Christian and the F1 Explains team.
I love the podcast.
I'm a new viewer of F1 as of late last season.
And the pod's been extremely helpful in increasing my understanding
and appreciation of the sport.
That's very nice of Haley from California, isn't it?
We like Haley.
Haley says, I would love it if you could explain what happens
when one team thinks another has broken the rules.
I love this question, Io.
So picture the scene.
You think there might have been a rules infringement.
Do you let it slide and think the stewards will pick up on it?
Of course not.
We are competitive.
We're always trying to get as best result as possible.
We abide by the rules.
So everybody should be abiding by the rules.
So if we think somebody is illegal, of course, we let them know.
You grasp them up?
Do you call that grasp them up?
Yeah.
I'm not sure.
Well, yes, grasp them up is quite in English.
Of course, there's a way to do it, depending on what it is,
degree of if somebody is blatantly cheating,
but if there's a gray area that people are pushing,
everybody pushing down the gray area, it's part of the game.
So if you get, let's say, grasped up, nobody is crying about it
because you know the risks.
Fair game.
Yeah.
I may do it to you.
100%.
And then it's nothing personal, right?
And even when we are, let's say, having a heated argument
in either technical advisory committee
or even FN Commission meeting, none of that is personal.
Everybody is trying to serve their own interests
and then trying to get competitive advantage.
That's the name of the game.
It's one of those areas where, like, I love the sport.
I've been a fan of the sport since the late 90s, early 2000s.
I just think it's one of the funniest parts of the sport.
I love that you incredibly clever people on the pit walls
are basically telling tales on each other to try and get the other punished.
It's good fun.
Basically, if you see some interesting idea that you haven't thought of
and then if you think that's a gray area,
there's two things you're going to do.
Either copy it, then get it on your car as soon as possible
so you have advantage as well, or we can't do it.
Let's get it banned.
And if it then doesn't get banned.
I'm imagining the next step is we'll work out how we can do it
because if they're doing it and it's legal.
No, no, no, no.
You make that decision even beforehand.
If you assess if you can do it or not, if you can, you should just do it, right?
Faster than anybody else.
But if you think you cannot do it for whatever the reason,
you're trying to get it banned as soon as possible.
No, sure.
But if they say it is fine and you thought you can't do it previously,
surely the next point is.
Yeah, but if they say, okay, this is legal,
then you get upset about it, but you have to move on.
And accept that somebody else has done better job than you.
Of course.
Just quickly before you go, because you've got 30 seconds,
you're a couple of years into the job now.
How much are you enjoying it?
Do you get to enjoy the job as a team principal?
Honestly, I love it.
It's such an amazing opportunity.
And I love working with people.
And then the moment I take joy out of this job
is when we have produced certain results and I see people enjoying it.
Or when I challenge certain people and then they step up
and then they flourish their potential more than what they thought they had.
And then I take huge joy from seeing people grow and harness their potential.
Even the potential that they didn't think they had.
So that's the biggest joy I have doing this job.
We wish you and both of your drivers well this weekend,
especially Ollie, of course, at his home Grand Prix.
So good luck to all of you guys this weekend.
Thanks, I really appreciate it.
Thank you.
I have come out to there answering some of the questions
that you sent to f1explains at f1.com
about the role of the team principal.
And of course, more broadly, some of the considerations of a team principal.
I very much enjoyed hearing about how he thinks of drivers in terms of their speed
and what he's assessing looking at.
That was really interesting.
And also explaining what's going through his head
when they're looking at bringing parts and upgrades.
I mentioned it briefly in the interview,
but we do have teams who bring smaller upgrades as a time
and it's sort of evolution rather than revolution.
That does particularly tend to be teams more towards the top end of the grid
because, as Io says, by the very nature that they're at the top end of the grid,
they haven't got fundamental flaws, fundamental issues.
So it is little things that they're trying to get an advantage.
But then we've, of course, been seeing Aston Martin struggling this season.
We all want them to do better.
More teams competing at the front is good.
But they, obviously, by the very nature of being at the back, have bigger issues.
And their team principal, Adrian Newey, is saying,
we're going to bring one big upgrade that should make a difference.
They're talking about bringing that just before the summer break.
So it's all very interesting.
And, of course, all the role of the team principal to,
even if it's not them making the decision in the first place,
they're the ones sort of overseeing it and checking it works.
I do love the randomness of Formula One in that we're...
I mentioned at the start of the show, it sort of feels like we're still in setup mode here.
We're talking to you on Thursday, late morning.
Somebody's just wheeling past me as we speak.
Some massive potted plants.
And then behind him is someone from Cadillac
with what looks like a car part.
Just the difference in the roles.
That person is head of potted plants.
Big potted plants as well.
And I think they're real.
I recently complimented some plants in a studio,
and they were like, you're keeping them very well.
They were fake, but they're not.
So that's good.
Anyway, I should tell you, if you are heading to Silverstone
this weekend for the British Grand Prix,
this is being released all over the world on Friday.
On Saturday, so tomorrow, if you're listening on release day,
we are doing an F1 Explains live show.
It is at 10.20 on the main stage in the fan zone,
and our special guest is Damon Hill.
Of course, the 1996 Formula One World Champion TV pundit,
he's been on F1 TV a few times this season.
Lovely, Matt, and also very entertaining.
So we'll be putting some of your questions to a world champion.
If you're not at the British Grand Prix or anything,
I'd have loved to have seen an interview with Damon Hill.
Don't worry, because next week's F1 Explains
will be that very interview with Damon on the main stage.
One thing I would also say,
if we are heading to the British Grand Prix,
if you're listening to this,
I know there were people listening last year on their way.
It's colder than I thought it would be.
It's quite cool.
There's a man in front of me,
literally rubbing sun cream on his arms,
and we, of course, encourage that.
You've only got one skin.
It's yours for life, look after it.
But it is cooler than I thought it would be.
So that's some public service information I would give
to people heading to the British Grand Prix.
And just before we go,
should we just stick around to see
who's walking into the paddock, producer Jamie,
because the Netflix boom mic seems to be following somebody.
So is that somebody famous?
Is that a Formula One driver in front, do we think?
Heading in, we're stood in between Aston Martin and in between Haas.
Apparently it's Lando Norris,
the nice gentleman with the race against dementia badge,
tells me it's Lando on his way in.
Here he is, here's Lando Norris,
in a very luminous yellow t-shirt.
I was going to grab him to say hello,
but he's right over the other side.
But as if this was pre-planned,
Lando Norris is the latest interviewee on F1 Beyond the Grid.
Our sister podcast, just search F1 Beyond the Grid,
wherever you listen to your podcasts,
to hear Lando Norris talking in depth to Mr. Tom Clarkson
about, well, I've not heard the interview,
but I'm guessing there's a bit of,
producer Jamie, were you there when it was being recorded?
I wasn't, but I have edited it.
Oh, there you go, good.
So I'm guessing there was world champion-based chat.
How being a world champion has changed him.
And a very interesting answer when Tom asked him,
do you see yourself as a one-team driver?
I think I've seen some quotes surrounding this.
Yes, well, there you go.
Search F1 Beyond the Grid.
Good plug-in, producer Jamie.
F1 Beyond the Grid, wherever you get your podcasts
to listen to that.
Of course, there is also F1 Nation on this very feed,
with race previews and race debriefs.
So that will mop up all the action from the British Grand Prix.
We're all interested here as to who will be the favourites
this weekend, starting to feel like a Mercedes circuit,
long straights, but let's find out.
And we will be back with another F1 Explains next Friday.
As I said, with Damon Hill,
as somebody wields something very loud past,
you don't know we're recording a podcast,
with Damon Hill recorded as a live show
on the Silverstone main stage.
If you're coming, look forward to seeing you there.
If not, it'll be here next week.
And send in those questions, f1explains at f1.com.
For me, Christian Hughgill here at Silverstone
at the British Grand Prix.
Bye for now.
About this episode
Haas F1 Team Principal Ayao Komatsu joins the show to pull back the curtain on managing a modern Formula One team. Komatsu discusses the unique challenges of running a leaner operation of 400 people compared to grid giants with over a thousand staff. He shares fascinating insights into what truly makes a driver fast, highlighting the importance of mental capacity under pressure. Listeners will also learn about the delicate human side of the job, including how Komatsu built a high-trust relationship with Nico Hülkenberg to deliver honest feedback and maximize track performance.
Original notes
What makes one Formula 1 driver faster than another? How does an F1 team work out when and where to bring upgrades to their car? What happens when one team thinks an opponent has broken the rules? How do the 11 F1 Constructors vary in size? And what difference does that make to performance?
Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu welcomes Christian Hewgill into his motorhome office at Silverstone to answer your questions about Formula 1.
DAMON HILL JOINS F1 EXPLAINS LIVE AT THE BRITISH GRAND PRIX
1996 World Champion Damon Hill will be joining Christian on the Silverstone main stage at 1020 BST on Saturday 4th July, so come along and watch if you’re at the race!
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