Sports Minutes: What does it take to be a Formula 1 team principal?

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

Sports Minutes with Zia-ul Raushan on Money FM 89.3.

Zia-ul Raushan (0:05)

Money FM 89.3, it's time for Sports Minutes with me, Zia-ul Raushan. Forget football today because I'm swapping the pitch for the pit lane. Coming to you from the Singapore Grand Prix here at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, and I'm alongside Ayao Komatsu, team principal of the TGR Haas F1 team. Ayao-san, a huge welcome to Singapore. How are you doing?

Ayao Komatsu (0:26)

Very good, thank you very much.

Zia-ul Raushan (0:27)

Very excited to be here with you. When did you get into Singapore and you settled in okay?

Ayao Komatsu (0:33)

Yeah, yeah. We came, we raced in Malaysia last weekend, so I actually drove, you know, I came by the road. You know, I didn't want to get on the plane anymore. So I arrived here on Tuesday lunchtime, but it's always nice to come down here. I think this is one Grand Prix that actually everyone's looking forward to. So I know it's nice to be back here.

Zia-ul Raushan (0:52)

As a Singaporean, that's lovely to hear that that you look forward to this Grand Prix. Funny story, I was in KL on Sunday as well. Not at the race though, I was on a family holiday. But I drove back like you as well, and I got here Sunday night. Coming to the Formula 1, you said you're looking forward to this race, right? Ayao-san, you've been here 10 years now.

Third time as team principal, but you've been with the team for 10 years. What are some of your fondest memories of this race?

Ayao Komatsu (1:19)

I think overall, I had some good and bad experiences. I remember, I think 2014, that was terrible in the sense that some high driver, Romain Grosjean, he had such a big power issue. I remember he was screaming on the radio during the practice session. I remember that one, but also some really nice memories. I think one was, I can't remember the year, maybe like Robert Kubica, after the late tire change in the race, he was overtaking everybody left, right and center. That was exciting too. And then recently, we scored a point as Haas F1 team is our drivers. So it's a challenging circuit, challenging environment, but for sure, if you get it right, you know, we can do something here. So I'm really, really looking forward to it. And also like I remember very first time I came here, that was the very first night race, right? So I remember not being done it before. We all were thinking, yeah, what's going to be the visibility? Is it going to be bright enough? Then came here, see all these lights, wow. And then when you see the shot from the sky, the whole circuit looks like that snake. I was like, wow, this is amazing. And then back then, there's not that many races that have a street circuit in the middle of city center, other than Monaco, of course. So this was, I feel like this is the Grand Prix, like a pioneer of a city street racing. And they just so unique.

Zia-ul Raushan (2:40)

Yeah, super iconic when it first came on. And I know what aerial shot you're talking about, right? So beautiful to look at the city like that. Only right I asked you, Ayao-san, you told me a lot about the racing memories.

Ayao Komatsu (2:51)

Yeah.

Zia-ul Raushan (2:51)

Singapore has a lot more than the racing. Any memories you want to share that you have in your mind?

Ayao Komatsu (2:56)

I don't know, it's about the...

I love the... I'm Asian, right? So I like Asian food as well. When I come to Singapore, there's so many choices of food. So that's really good. But also, like, because of the offset work schedule, because of a night race, you know, I still wake up reasonably early. So actually, good memory of Singapore. I actually met one of my best friends, who then became one of my very, very good friends, four years ago, through going to a rock climbing gym. So that's actually a good memory.

Zia-ul Raushan (3:26)

And I hear you're a big rock climbing fan as well. Is that what Ayao-san does away from F1, to escape?

Ayao Komatsu (3:33)

Not actually to escape. I'm not sure if that's the right word to be said for sure. But for me, like, physical and mental is really, really linked. And also, it's a very good way to control my mindset. And even the breathing, like climbing. When you're 30 meters, 40 meters up from the ground, if you look down, if you get scared, everything goes. Then you got to recompose yourself. Then breathing, you need to control your breathing. You got to focus what's in front of you. Then you can climb to the best of your ability. It's actually very similar to what I need to do on the pit wall. You know, there's a lot of noise on the pit wall. Then time pressure is huge. Obviously, the pressure of the result is huge. But what's important is to get rid of that noise, focus what's in front of you. If you are worried about other factors, like in the climbing height, how far off the ground you are, you get scared.