Haas F1 boss Ayao Komatsu won’t feel any frustration if Ferrari recalls Oliver Bearman in a few years. Currently, the American team will benefit from the talents of the young Briton, and its director knows that this is an agreement which will favor a return to the Scuderia for the talent trained by the academy.
“It’s not frustrating at all, to be honest with you. I think it’s amazing that we had access to Oli” Komatsu said. “It’s because of our relationship with Ferrari that we have Oli, he raced for us in Baku and Interlagos last year. It’s actually a positive and an advantage for us.”
“The fact that we have two solid years with Oli, provided nothing happens with Lewis and Charles at Ferrari, is great. If we work together and make improvements so that by the end of 2026 , Ferrari insists on having Oli in their car, it will be a compliment for us.”
“So honestly looking at the situation at least in the short term, the next couple of years, I feel really good that we have access to Oli and can help him as a racing driver.”
Haas accompanied Bearman for more than a year before his starting debut, and Komatsu is pleased that his team was able to do so, which was not the case before.
“We have to grow as a team, so I’m sure at some point we will get to the stage where we have to grow. We have to be able to provide opportunities to young drivers and then develop and identify talents, to develop these talents together.”
-“We haven’t had the ability or the opportunity to do this before – this is the first year we’ve done it. So I think in terms of transition, I’m not in a hurry to say, ‘It’s frustrating to have to return the driver to Ferrari’ No.”
“These two years that we have with Oli, we are determined to make them work and if, in the end, we get to the stage where Ferrari is happy enough to take Oli for the 2027 season, we will have done a good job.
Furthermore, the Japanese also revealed that Kevin Magnussen would remain involved in the team and even sometimes as a reserve: “It will mainly be used at Banbury, as part of the previous car testing program [TPC] and simulators. This will allow him to drive two-year-old machines, which will serve as a reference for Esteban and Oli.”
“He will also spend time in the Toyota simulator. Access was granted to us following the start of our technical partnership last year. He will also play a reserve role during a number of races on the calendar, although that negotiations are still ongoing.”
