Ayao Komatsu says ‘fast driver’ Haas want is in a different ‘category’ to Mick Schumacher

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For the first time in years, Haas appear to have a driver pairing that can threaten the teams around them in the Constructors’ Championship.

Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen have helped lift the American outfit to 7^th in the team standings a third of the way through the 2024 campaign.

However, team principal Ayao Komatsu already knows one of his drivers is moving on and speaking to Formu1a.uno, he’s been speaking about one potential option available this year.

Teams near the bottom of the standings tend to have to take more risks when they make their driver choices.

The very best drivers are unlikely to choose to drop down the grid unless they absolutely have to – as Carlos Sainz is discovering this year.

That has burned Haas before and Gene Haas has admitted that he’s reluctant to hire any more rookies.

However, Ayao Komatsu believes that Oliver Bearman is in a different ‘category’ to Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

The British teenager has already scored more points in his career than Mazepin after just one race.

Oliver Bearman in a different ‘category’ to former Haas driver Mick Schumacher

The 2021 season was the worst campaign in Haas’s albeit quite short history in F1.

Guenther Steiner brought in Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher into the team to replace Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen.

However, both drivers failed to score a point that year and Mazepin was dropped ahead of the 2022 season.

Magnussen returned to the team and immediately showed what level the team should have been expecting from their drivers.

The young German was gone a year later and its understandable why Haas might be slightly worried about hiring another young driver.

However, Komatsu believes that Oliver Bearman is not in the ‘same category’ as Schumacher or Mazepin.

He also included another young driver that might be on the grid next year in his statement.

Ayao Komatsu already impressed by Oliver Bearman

Komatsu was asked what type of driver he was looking for next year and said: “A fast driver, capable of giving clear feedback and contributing to the development of the car, but also of the team.”

When specifically asked about the prospect of hiring a rookie, he continued: “It depends on who: Kimi Antonelli, Ollie Bearman, Mick Schumacher, Nikita Mazepin…

“We can’t put them all in the same category, right? The fact that Ollie is a rookie is not a problem.”

How close is Oliver Bearman to earning 2025 Haas seat?

Despite Gene Haas’s unwillingness to commit to Bearman, he’s still looking like a very strong candidate to drive for his team next year.

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has warned Bearman not to get too distracted when switching between competing in F2 and testing for the team in FP1.

Peter Windsor has suggested that Bearman already reminds him of one top driver on the grid.

During the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, overtaking was nearly impossible to do, but Damon Hill lauded Bearman for finding a way past Kimi Antonelli.

Bearman’s move to Haas is as near as it could be with Frederic Vasseur talking regularly to Komatsu.

After a season where no rookies joined the sport, Bearman might be the first driver to break that trend in 2025.