Haas boss insists 'we can win in F1' but makes Cadillac admission over US fans

Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu is immensely proud that his outfit has survived for a decade in Formula 1. And he insists the American outfit can one day go on to win races despite still being the smallest "by far" on the grid.

But he admits that remains years away and depends entirely upon how Haas and engine suppliers Ferrari adapt with the F1 rulebook being rewritten next year. "Not many new teams survive more than two years," the Japanese boss told our free F1 newsletter Pit Lane Chronicle of his team, which made its F1 debut in 2016.

That season was also Manor Racing's last in F1 before they collapsed under the financial burden of even making it onto the grid. "For us to be here after 10 years and fighting in the midfield, and we are by far still the smallest team in the paddock, that’s something to be really proud of," Komatsu said.

Haas celebrated their 200th F1 race earlier this year and, at their home race in Austin on Sunday, their cars will bear a special patriotic livery bearing the Stars and Stripes. But they won't be America's only F1 team from next year, with General Motors entering the sport as Cadillac.

Might that dilute their US fanbase and take away some vital commercial opportunities? "Yeah, it might," Komatsu admitted. "But we have a very different set-up. This is [owner] Gene Haas' private team, whereas they are very much coming as a corporate [outfit] with Cadillac branding.

"It's Gene's team, he's the founder and owner of the team and then we're getting sponsors and investment. But Gene owns this team 100 percent. He's the private individual, owns 100 percent of this team. Who we are, how we want to do things, I expect to be very different from Cadillac.

"So I think there's a clear separation in that sense. I think it's good to have another American corporate team as well. We are the original American privateer team, which is great."

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Will Haas' underdog story resonate more with fans? "That's up to the public to decide," Komatsu said. "We are who we are, we know who we want to be and how we want to go racing. Hopefully, if people resonate with what we're doing, it's great. But you have to be true to yourself, know who you are. That's what we're focused on."

Haas have never won a race or made it to the podium in their decade of F1 racing, but Komatsu insisted: "That has to be the aspiration, otherwise there is no point competing. Nobody comes to a race and just wants to turn up.

"But you've got to have a realistic target, you've got to have a substantial strategy to be able to achieve the ultimate, but not immediate, target. That's why we are focused on trying to be the top of the midfield frontrunner and establish ourselves as a consistent frontrunner in the midfield pack.

"Once we've done that, we can then look, 'Okay, what's the gap?' From the midfield to the top three or top four teams, there's a reasonably big difference. It's a long, long, long way away. But yeah, of course we've got that ambition going forward.

"Next year with the huge regulation change, that's going to be a huge challenge. Who knows about the pecking order? So after that big shuffle up, we've then got to make sure we're going to be consistently there. So once we establish that, one day we can look at the next step.

"You've got to have the long-term target and it's very good to have one, but there's no point for me defining too much in detail what you're going to do in seven years' time, 10 years' time, because that changes what we do now, what we are doing in six months' time, one year's time.

"The top-level target, and in terms of how to achieve it, it changes depending on this year and next year."