Part of the Haas F1 team press release is missing, clarifying the truth about Gunther Steiner.

Haas made a lengthy announcement that Gunther Steiner had been replaced as F1 team boss by Ayao Komatsu, but one important thing was missing.

Gene Haas explained his decision to fire Gunther Steiner, but a statement from the fired team boss was conspicuous by its absence.

The Haas team sent out a press release on Wednesday announcing the leadership change. Steiner, who co-founded the team with American businessman Haas, was forced out after finishing last in the 2023 championship.

In his place, Ayao Komatsu was promoted to internal staff. The Japanese engineer, a graduate of Loughborough University, was one of Steiner’s chief lieutenants and would drive a Formula One team for the first time.

Haas and Komatsu were quoted in the press release. However, the former did not spare a single 28-word sentence to the man who led the team for 10 years, and the latter did not mention Steiner at all.

Ayao Komatsu: Haas F1 nominated to replace irreplaceable Gunther Steiner

And the 58-year-old didn’t say a word when he left. Such departures usually indicate non-consensual circumstances, adding weight to claims that Haas left Steiner over differences of opinion over the team’s future.

This will be painful for Steiner. Although his name was not carried over from the team’s branding, he still considered the Haas project his own child. And he had every right to do so, as he conceived the idea, pitched it to Haas, built it from the ground up and led its efforts on the track since the team officially entered F1 in 2016.

The results of the last years were not good enough. Haas’ quote in the press release makes it clear that poor performance is the biggest factor in this change, at least publicly. “We’ve had some successes, but as an organization we need to continue to deliver results that help us achieve our broader goals,” he said.