TGR Haas team boss rues ‘messy day’ as Banbury team struggles in Belgium
TGR Haas F1 Team principal Ayao Komatsu was left to rue 'a messy day' on Sunday as the Banbury outfit suffered a disappointing Belgian Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
After an incident-packed race, Ollie Bearmen finished 14th and team-mate Esteban Ocon 17th to ensure it was a pointless weekend.
Bearman and Ocon had started from 14th and 16th positions respectively, but then both made light contact with each other halfway around the opening lap, and each gained punctures.
The safety car was then deployed after Mercedes' George Russell crashed out, and Bearman took the restart in 15th and Ocon 21st, with both making headway before the race conclusion.
But Komatsu was not happy, and admitted: "It was a bit of a messy day, so that’s a shame.
"The lap one incident between teammates shouldn’t happen, so we just need to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
"At times where Ollie could show the pace, it was strong, better than qualifying, so that’s a positive and a result of the ongoing work everyone is doing to improve the car's characteristics.
"We had some operational errors, which we’ll look into and improve upon."
Bearman said: "I picked up a puncture, which is very unfortunate, and I don’t know exactly what happened.
"It is disappointing because the car was quite fast and we were much closer to the Audis.
"I still think there are a lot of positives to take, mainly that the car feels good and it's much more fun to drive.
"The race pace was consistent as well, which is good. So, we'll regroup for the next one.”
Ocon said: “It was the wrong place and wrong time for both Ollie and me on lap one, and there's not much we could've done.
"We were three wide, and I think Ollie had an issue, so everyone tried to avoid him.
"It was unfortunate, but it didn't impede either of our races.
The team are back in action this weekend as the Hungarian Grand Prix is staged at the Hungaroring.
The Belgian GP was won by championship leader Kimi Antonelli of the Brackley-based Mercedes team.
But it was a bad day for his British team-mate George Russell, who crashed out on the first lap after a collision with Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton.
Italian Antonelli had to fight back from a losing position during a virtual safety-car period to catch and pass Ferrari's Charles Leclerc for his sixth win in 10 races this season.
Russell crashing out sees him drop to third place in the standings, 50 points behind Antonelli, with Hamilton – who finished fourth in Belgium – second, five points ahead of Russell.