10 January 2024 , 17:29
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Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg have thanked outgoing boss Guenther Steiner for their "never boring" time together at Haas.
Steiner was in charge of the American Formula 1 team from its inception and first season on the grid in 2016. But, on Wednesday, it was announced that he had been relieved of his duties.
Across two separate spells, Magnussen raced under Steiner for Haas for six seasons. And, in response to the news, paid tribute to his boss with a touching post on social media. He wrote: "Thanks, Guenther. Thanks for taking me on the journey in 2017 and thanks for bringing me on board again in 2022. It has been both fun and tremendously challenging - but never boring. So long and all the best."
Team-mate Hulkenberg soon followed with a message of his own. The German driver added: "Thanks, Guenther. For your trust, friendship and the opportunity to go racing in F1 again! You're definitely a character... all the best!"
Steiner's replacement will be very familiar to Magnussen and the rest of the team's employees. Ayao Komatsu has worked for Haas since 2016 and has been promoted to team principal from his role as director of engineering.
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Announcing the news, team owner Gene Haas made it clear that performance was the main reason behind his decision. "I'd like to start by extending my thanks to Guenther Steiner for all his hard work over the past decade and I wish him well for the future," he said.
"Moving forward as an organization it was clear we need to improve our on-track performances. In appointing Ayao Komatsu as team principal we fundamentally have engineering at the heart of our management.
"We have had some successes, but we need to be consistent in delivering results that help us reach our wider goals as an organization. We need to be efficient with the resources we have but improving our design and engineering capability is key to our success as a team.
"I'm looking forward to working with Ayao and fundamentally ensuring that we maximize our potential - this truly reflects my desire to compete properly in Formula 1." And Komatsu added: "Having been with the team since its track-debut back in 2016 I'm obviously passionately invested in its success in Formula 1.
"I'm looking forward to leading our program and the various competitive operations internally to ensure we can build a structure that produces improved on-track performances."