Haas will be patient with Ollie Bearman in his first season

The Japanese took over from Günther Steiner before the start of the season, following the dismissal of the Italian, who had led the team Haas since its beginnings in Formula 1, in 2016. The team led by Komatsu is currently included, with Nico Hulkenberg et Kevin Magnussen as drivers, in seventh place in the constructors' standings, after some excellent performances before the summer break. If performance is a first point where the “new version” of the American team differs from the old one, driver management is also a point on which the Japanese engineer differs from his predecessor.

Steiner's dislike of young, inexperienced pilots was widely public, notably through his comments on Mick Schumacher, who he had under his command in 2021 and 2022. This therefore resulted in a very experienced duo, composed of Hülkenberg and Magnussen, for the last two seasons. However, both drivers will leave Haas, Hülkenberg leaving for Sauber, while Magnussen has not yet found a seat. They will be replaced by Esteban Ocon, coming fromAlpine, and therefore by the pilot of F2 and member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, Ollie Bearman.

“Useful” errors

The Briton will therefore be Haas' first rookie since the 2021 season, but the new boss of the team founded by Gene Haas expects to see Bearman make mistakes. Better, Ayao Komatsu welcomes these errors, essential according to him for the development of his young driver who has so far taken the start of a Grand Prix, in Saudi Arabia, when he replaced Carlos Sainz, victim of an attack of appendicitis.

« I think you have to look at individual mistakes, so to speak.", Komatsu explained to our colleagues at RaceFans. « Every situation is different. We must judge it in context. CThis may be the right or wrong mistake to make. It really depends on the context – where you are in the championship, where you are on the grid, what phase of the race is it, can you afford to be aggressive, or should you be careful? So it depends on the context. »

 The 48-year-old leader therefore takes the opposite view from Günther Steiner, who did not hesitate to criticize his drivers in public when they made mistakes. Praising the Briton's analytical skills, Ayao Komatsu does not expect Ollie Bearman to make the same mistake several times. According to him, the young driver’s mistakes could be “useful”.

« Le The fact is that Ollie understands the big picture very well. So I expect that if he makes a mistake, it will be helpful, if you will. This is no reason to get yelled at, clearly not. »

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