Haas staff 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 constructive efficiency displayed by future driver Esteban Ocon.
Alpine has struggled all yr following a poor opening to the season with no factors till spherical six in Miami, but remodeled 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 spot to Max Verstappen while main, will be a part of Haas in 2025 to associate 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 staff scored zero factors on the Brazilian Grand Prix, advised Autosport.
“In these sorts of chaotic races, anybody can rating 15 factors. I wasn’t anticipating 33 factors, however it occurred. Congratulations to Alpine, their automobile was mega in moist situations, so fast.
“If there’s a constructive, Esteban, our driver for subsequent yr, drove so nicely. So I despatched a message to congratulate him immediately. You need to respect your opposition, they did an amazing job, that they had the proper automobile for these situations.”
Ayao Komatsu, Workforce Principal, Haas F1 Workforce, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Workforce, Mark Slade, Race Engineer, Haas F1 Workforce
Photograph by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Photos
Haas was comfortably sixth earlier than that end result, with Nico Hulkenberg persevering with his season-long tempo and Kevin Magnussen gathering momentum, solely to overlook the weekend via sickness.
However following Ocon and Gasly’s performances within the treacherous situations, 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 feel I stated with eight races to go, a pleasant hole to Alpine, we simply should be on it each single occasion – that hasn’t been the case,” conceded Komatsu, whose staff is now seventh within the championship.
“In Austin, we dropped off on Sunday, [in Brazil] sure, the automobile is just not fast sufficient on intermediate tyres however operationally we must always have finished a lot significantly better.
Max Verstappen, Pink Bull Racing, 1st place, Esteban Ocon, Alpine F1 Workforce, 2nd place, Pierre Gasly, Alpine F1 Workforce, third place, Pierre Wache, Technical Director, Pink Bull Racing, on the rostrum
Photograph by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Photos
“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 prime of the midfield groups, now we have to enhance operationally.
“The constructive is in case you have a look at our drivers, Ollie in SQ3, with out a 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 situations, we did not have that a lot tempo. However nonetheless, we must always have come away with factors.
“I simply must inspire individuals, so the final three races, we simply should be on it. Then hopefully, if they’re dry races, we must always be capable of rating factors.”