– The violent accident of Haas pilot Oliver Bearman at the Japanese Grand Prix has once again highlighted the risks of the current Formula 1 regulations: The large speed differences between the cars can quickly lead to dangerous situations and serious accidents.
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Even before the start of the season, Formula 1 drivers had warned specifically about these dangers. Now the world governing body FIA has also admitted that adjustments to increase safety will be necessary in the near future. However, Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu warns against quick and ill-considered decisions.
“We are looking at this from all angles, because if we make changes, they have to be the right ones,” says the Japanese to Sky Sports. “We cannot rush into changes and then say a few races later: ‘That was the wrong decision.'”
Confident that “right solution” will be found
Currently, drivers and teams are in close coordination with the FIA and Formula 1. “The good thing is that the Formula 1 community, meaning all teams, the FIA, and Formula 1 itself, is working together really openly and transparently, in a way I haven’t seen to this extent before,” Komatsu reveals.
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“I am quite confident that Formula 1 as a community will find the right solution for everything we need to improve.” However, there is still disagreement over how profound the adjustments to the new regulations should be.
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While Max Verstappen is calling for drastic changes, the Haas team principal is only talking about fine-tuning. “We have already acted, a small step for qualifying by reducing the amount of recovered energy, that was a good step,” Komatsu said in Suzuka.
Haas team principal: “It doesn’t have to be a complete change”
“But we have already identified several areas,” Komatsu hints that the adjustments so far are only the beginning. “Small differences, it doesn’t have to be a complete change, can improve some of the problems we saw in Melbourne and Shanghai, and this is another example.”
“So we are learning many things together, but I am sure that through these, let’s say, relatively small improvements, we can drastically improve the show as well as safety,” Komatsu adds. But even if the team principal warns against radical changes, he does not yet have a final solution ready for the current incident.
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“So I sit here and don’t know exactly what mechanism we should apply for this specific incident,” says Komatsu, “but for example, with the events in Melbourne and Shanghai, from my point of view, there is a fairly clear solution we can take, and it’s not a big one.”
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