Komatsu, who takes over as team principal ahead of the 2024 season, said he had wanted to change the race operations team since the beginning of last year after identifying weaknesses.

Changes at Haas include the appointment of a new chief racing engineer and sporting director, two common positions that the lower-budget team did not fill last season.

The new chief racing engineer is Francesco Nenci, who most recently worked on the Audi Dakar Rally project and has F1 experience from Sauber and Toyota. Mark Lowe, former Haas operations team manager, will serve as athletic director.

“I felt trackside was one of the weakest areas of the team last year, and the more competitive the car was, the more exposed it was,” Komatsu said.

“At the end of the year we had the fifth-fastest car. But in terms of execution, we should have finished sixth (in the constructors’ championship), but we didn’t.

“Part of it was we were leaving too many points behind in our trackside operations. So it definitely needed to step up.”

Cridelich, who is from France, follows in the footsteps of other female strategy leaders, including Red Bull chief strategy engineer Hannah Schmitz. Ruth Buscombe and Bernie Collins worked at Sauber and Aston Martin before both turning to broadcasting.

Haas has a unique structure that minimizes internal operations through its partnership with Ferrari.

Haas used Ferrari’s wind tunnel, had a design team in Maranello, Italy, and purchased almost every part allowed under the car’s regulations from Ferrari, designing only the aerodynamic surfaces and chassis.

Their headquarters are in Kannapolis, North Carolina, but the racing team operates out of a modest factory in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

Komatsu said this would be the first year Haas has enough budget to hit F1’s budget cap. A further change in approach is that they will not be using Ferrari’s latest redesigned front suspension, preferring to stick with last year’s design to maintain consistency in aerodynamic studies.

Haas finished seventh last year, ahead of Bulls, Williams and Sauber, and Komatsu said his aim was to “stay consistent”.

“In Haas’ history over the years, I don’t think we’ve been competitive in a similar way from season to season,” he said.

He added that he was ambitious to further improve a team he said was “beyond its capabilities” due to limited resources.

“Who else has only 300 employees or operates in a building like this?” Komatsu said.

“If Williams lived up to their potential, there’s no way we’d beat them. I hope we can beat those types of guys on quality and not have anyone mess up.”