Haas boss Ayao Komatsu hailed the “amazing” performance of British Formula 1 prodigy Oliver Bearman at the Mexico City Grand Prix. The 20-year-old has been highly-rated ever since making his F1 debut with Ferrari as a teenager, scoring points when filling in for the unwell Carlos Sainz at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on very short notice.
This is his first full season on the grid with Haas, a customer team of Ferrari, while Bearman remains affiliated with the Scuderia. And in Mexico he showed exactly why the Italians rate him so highly, with a superb Sunday performance which saw him overtake the likes of Max Verstappen and George Russell on track and eventually finish fourth.
It was Bearman’s best Grand Prix result to date and also matched the highest finish of any Haas driver in the team’s 10-year history. It was a moment for all involved with the outfit to celebrate, even if they had missed out on what would have been a first-ever podium with Bearman running in third place for some time.
Team principal Komatsu was effusive in his praise for Bearman and the progress he has made over the course of this season, despite some rookie errors at times. He said: “We always saw huge talent and every single time we just are learning and we are improving and then since Singapore he’s been putting weekends together.
“In Austin, there was a couple of things in the Sprint [race] and [grand prix] but other than that he was mega. And here, what can I say? He hasn’t put a foot wrong, has he? It’s just amazing… Ollie drove fantastic.”
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Bearman also drove praise from Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur, his potential future boss with the Scuderia believed to see the Brit as a long-term successor to 40-year-old Lewis Hamilton. The Frenchman said: ” At one stage, I was thinking about a podium for him!
“He did very well. But if you have a look from the beginning of the season, he’s doing well. Quite often, he had a small issue in the weekend, either in quali or in the race. And this weekend, he put everything together. He made zero mistakes and it’s paying off. It’s good also for the team to have two cars up into the points. Congratulations to Ayao and to Ollie.”
Haas also got Esteban Ocon into the points, the Frenchman finishing ninth, giving the team a huge boost in their bid to finish as high up the constructors’ championship standings as possible. They are now eighth with 62 points, having leapfrogged Sauber, and are only seven points behind Aston Martin and 10 adrift of Racing Bulls, keeping the American squad in contention for sixth place.