Despite his minimal qualifying experience during the pre-season testing of the 2025 Formula 1 season, Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu remains unconcerned about the performance of his rookie driver, Oliver Bearman. The 19-year-old Briton, who is among the five rookies slated for the season, has already proven his mettle with three Grand Prix starts in 2024.
Bearman’s track record is impressive. He stepped in for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari in Saudi Arabia while Sainz was recuperating from appendicitis. He also filled in for Kevin Magnussen at Haas during races in Baku and Interlagos. Bearman’s performance in these qualifying sessions cemented his standing for Komatsu, who is confident in Bearman’s qualifying capabilities, despite Haas’ testing programme primarily focusing on high fuel and long mileage stints.
Komatsu shared his views with select media outlets, including Motorsport Week, stating, “Bearman’s performance in last year’s qualifying rounds was commendable. In fact, he outperformed Nico [Hulkenberg] on several occasions. I don’t consider him a rookie in the traditional sense.”
Bearman’s debut at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit last year in the Ferrari SF-24 was impressive. He narrowly missed making the Q3 cut after just an hour of practice. Even more impressively, in Baku, Bearman qualified 11th for Haas, outpacing the highly-regarded one lap specialist Hulkenberg. He repeated this feat in Brazil, once again out-qualifying the veteran German driver.
As the season progresses, Bearman is eager to tap into Haas’ one-lap potential. During high-fuel testing, he expressed his impatience to see what the car could do. He acknowledged the importance of this strategy and hoped it would yield similar results as the previous year.
Haas’ high fuel, high mileage testing approach has historically yielded positive results. As Bearman pointed out, it was instrumental in Haas developing a car in 2024 that excelled at tyre management, a stark contrast to its predecessor from 2023.
Komatsu explained the benefits of this strategy during pre-season testing, stating, “We focus on gathering data that cannot be collected during a race weekend. For instance, on a race weekend, it’s rare to have two sets of the same tyre compound. However, during testing, we can explore the effects of certain variables on tyre degradation and high fuel management. That’s our focus.”
With Bearman’s promising start and Haas’ strategic approach, the 2025 Formula 1 season promises to be an exciting one. Despite Bearman’s rookie status, Komatsu is confident in his potential and is looking forward to seeing what the young Briton can achieve on the track.
