F1 team boss reacts to Horner's departure - sort of

10:04, 25 Jul

byLudo van Denderen

Only ten people can currently call themselves team bosses in Formula 1, but Christian Horner is no longer one of them. Ayao Komatsu is still in office, at the helm of Haas F1. In the run-up to the Belgian Grand Prix, the Japanese was the first to speak with the media, where the conversation also touched on the news of Red Bull Racing.

The first question that GPblog asks is: “What do you think of Horner no longer being the team boss of Red Bull, after over twenty years in service?”

Instead of giving an analysis about Horner's successes at the Austrian racing stable, or indicating that Komastu is surprised by the dismissal, he initially responds with: ''I have no thoughts. It's none of my business. I never know what's exactly happening down there, so it's really not my place to comment though.''

However, the Haas F1 team boss, after some insistence says: ''I get on well with Christian. I have no issues. I have a good working relationship with Christian, but I don't know what's going on there.''

Ayao Komatsu

Komatsu worked with Permane

With Horner's departure, Laurent Mekies has moved up from Racing Bulls to Red Bull. The new man at the helm of Racing Bulls is Alan Permane, with whom Komatsu worked in the past at Renault (now Alpine).

''It's clear that he's got a very good sense of racing,'' the Japanese explains.

''So many people now, I think if you get a highly qualified graduate or whatever, clever people, they're good with numbers but they cannot tell if that number makes sense or not. But Alan is somebody who really got a good sense of what looks about right. So he's got good instinct.''