Ex-Haas F1 driver Grosjean reacts to Steiner team exit

Ex-Haas Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean has reacted to the Kannapolis-based team's management reshuffle ahead of the upcoming campaign.

Haas announced earlier this week that Guenther Steiner will not return to his Team Principal role when the new season gets underway later this year.

In his place arrives Ayao Komatsu, who steps up from his Director of Engineering position having been part of the Haas set-up since its debut.

Grosjean has vast experience working with Komatsu with the latter performing as the Frenchman's race engineer at Lotus before they made the switch to Haas together.

Grosjean spent five seasons competing for the US-owned team, joining in 2016 before leaving towards the end of the 2020 campaign following his horrific crash at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.

While Grosjean asserted that he has few ideas over what occurred behind the scenes amid Steiner's departure, the 13-time podium finisher expressed delight over Komatsu's promotion.

“I don't know what happened,” Grosjean said.

“I don't know more details than you do, but I wish Guenther all the best in his next chapter.

“He's definitely a man that's got a lot of ideas and things to do, but for me the main thing is [I’m] very happy for Ayao.”

'Huge challenge'

Following his F1 departure at the end of 2020, Grosjean moved to IndyCar competition and will tackle the upcoming year with Juncos Juncos Hollinger Racing.

Although his F1 years are behind him, Grosjean shares a strong friendship with Komatsu.

The Tokyo-born engineer is now tasked with lifting Haas from its bottom-of-the-grid slumber - a duty that will be a “huge challenge”, according to Grosjean.

“Yeah, I saw the news as most of us, I’m very happy for Komatsu,” the Frenchman said.

“First of all, he's a very good friend of mine. I competed in every one of my 181 Formula 1 [races] with him working on my car somehow.

“His kids are the same age as my kids, so we've been very good friends, and I'm excited for him. It's a huge challenge in front of him but I'm excited for him.”