Haas shakes up its technical organization with a new team of engineers

Haas announced major changes to its technical organization for the 2025 season on Tuesday, to best support Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman, with new engineers and internal promotions.

Published 21/01/2025 à 10:40

Dorian Grangier

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Haas shakes up its technical organization with a new team of engineers

© Florent Gooden / DPPI

Haas is preparing for a small internal revolution for the 2025 season. The American team wants to continue the great momentum it has built during the previous campaign (7th in the Constructors' Championship in 2024) and since the promotion of Ayao Komatsu to the head of the team as Team Principal. Thus, the American team has made several changes to its technical department with a new team of engineers made up of recruits and members promoted internally.

To accompany the arrival ofEsteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman, Haas has promoted two of its employees to race engineers. Laura Müller – that we presented to you here – becomes the first female racing engineer in Formula 1 and will be partnered by Esteban Ocon, while Ronan O'Hare will be Oliver Bearman's race engineer.

"A huge change" Komatsu recognizes

Among the new recruits at Haas, we note the return of Mark Lowe as sporting director of the American team (a position that did not exist until now), Carine Cridelich – defector from Racing Bulls – who becomes chief strategy officer, and Francesco Nenci, new chief race engineer, a position left vacant after the promotion of Ayao Komatsu in January 2024. Other members have also been promoted internally: this is the case of Andrea de Zorda, confirmed as technical director last year, or Davide Paganelli, who becomes head of aerodynamics.

Earlier this week, in a press conference held at Bambury base to present these changes to the technical organisation chart, Ayao Komatsu justified this major reshuffle to fill the gaps of last season. “Our technical team based at the factory has remained really stable, explains the Japanese leader. What has changed is the race team. It’s a huge change, but I felt that was one of our weak points last year. The more competitive the car became, the more exposed he was. We lost too many points because of the track operations. So we really had to raise the bar on that. (…) It happened very often that, under pressure, we didn’t perform as well as we should have. But again, it’s not just about the people, it’s also about the training that we can give them.”

The Haas VF-25 presented on February 16

In addition to the presentation of the new engineering team, Haas also revealed the date of the first test of the future VF-25. The new American car will take to the track for the first time on February 16, at Silverstone, for a day of promotional filming. Esteban Ocon will be the first to take the wheel, before being imitated by Oliver Bearman in the following days.

"We will run Esteban, because in terms of installing the driver, it is more difficult [with him], emphasizes Ayao Komatsu. We just want to make sure that Esteban's installation is 100% perfect. That way, if we have a problem, we have more time to react. With Ollie, we're pretty confident. We're pretty confident with Esteban, but we're more confident in Ollie's installation than Esteban's."

Recall that Haas has already taken to the track in 2025 with its first day of TPC ("Testing of Previous Cars") organized in Jerez, Spain, with the VF-23 of the 2023 season. Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman were then accompanied by the driver Toyota Ritomo Miyata, tipped to be Haas' reserve driver in 2025, although this remains to be confirmed.

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Dorian Grangier

A young journalist nostalgic for the motorsport of yesteryear. Raised on the exploits of Sébastien Loeb and Fernando Alonso.

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1 Comment (s)

Yves-Henri RANDIER

21/01/2025 at 11:19 a.m.

Komatsu continues to modify its team step by step by bringing in new blood and promoting and supporting deserving employees. An essential ingredient for success! What if Haas was the surprise of 2025?

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