Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu acknowledged that Ollie Bearman deserves a full-time promotion to Formula 1 but tempered expectations regarding a potential move to the US outfit in 2025.
Bearman – the youngest driver to race in F1 with Ferrari – enjoyed a sensational baptism of fire with the Scuderia in Saudi Arabia.
Thrown in at the deep end at the last hour following Carlos Sainz’s case of appendicitis, Bear only had sixty minutes of free practice on Friday afternoon to get himself acquainted with Ferrari’s SF-24 before jumping into qualifying.
The 18-year-old Briton followed his impressive P11 performance in the grid-defining session – just missing out on a spot in Q3 – with an equally remarkable display in Saturday’s race which he concluded in seventh position and with a thunder of applause from his peers.
Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur was impressed with Bearman’s race pace, but dazzled by his error-free showing on a track that typically takes no prisoners.
“I think in this situation – and we've had a couple of times good young drivers into the car, not only at Ferrari, but on the grid – I would say the pace is, I don't want to say easy to have, but it's something they can achieve,” Vasseur said.
“And the fact he did a short weekend without FP1/FP2 without any mistake, for me it's unrealistic.
“Honestly, I was completely impressed by this in Jeddah, between the walls, skipping FP1/FP2, directly almost in quali."
Komatsu was also astonished by the young gun’s F1 debut.
"Amazing. This circuit is not the easiest circuit to jump in from FP3. So I'm very, very happy for him and [he was] impressive,” said the Haas chief.
As a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, Bearman was entrusted this season with a reserve role with the Scuderia, but also with Haas, Ferrari’s engine customer.
Komatsu recognized that based on last weekend’s performance, Bearman is worthy of a full-time F1 seat in 2025.
However, he made clear that an opportunity to step up to F1 full-time with Haas is by no means guaranteed, especially given the strong drives of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen in Jeddah.
"He deserves a chance next year, I guess," Komatsu said. "[But] penalty aside, Kev's done fantastic today. Nico delivered as well.
“So how can I sit here and say, [Bearman is] 'our driver for next year'? Based on today's performance, [it's] Nico and Kevin."
©Ferrari
Komatsu mentioned that he wasn't overly surprised by Bearman's performance, as the Prema F2 charger had previously impressed him last year in FP1 in Mexico and in Abu Dhabi.
"Of course, we ran him in Mexico FP1 and Abu Dhabi and straight away it was totally clear to me and most of us that he is something special," he said.
"It's not just the speed. It's the total package and he understands the objectives, he handled himself very well. Even during a run, he's able to sort of absorb the information from the previous lap and then make minor adjustments to make the next step better.
“He just showed maturity straight away as if he's been doing it for some years."
Bearman will travel to Melbourne next week where he will be on standby with Ferrari, with Carlos Sainz expected to have fully recovered from his appendicitis surgery.
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