Dissatisfied with the lack of progress, and at odds over the resources needed to move up the order, owner Gene Haas decided not to renew long standing team boss Guenther Steiner's contract last winter.
After finishing 10th with a car that fundamentally didn't work over race distances, Haas instead turned to the team's senior engineer Komatsu for a more engineering led approach, which had turned out well with Andrea Stella at McLaren.
