Oliver Bearman receives huge boost in Charles Leclerc comparison from Haas boss

Oliver Bearman has made a very different impression on the Haas team compared to Charles Leclerc’s pre-F1 outings with the American squad.

Oliver Bearman has been signed to race with the Haas F1 team in 2025, with the Ferrari junior having already made several FP1 and testing appearances with the team.

Ayao Komatsu: Haas’ ability to assess young drivers was different

Bearman’s rise into F1 mirrors that of Charles Leclerc over five years ago, with the Monegasque driver having carried out a similar programme to Bearman as he climbed the ranks with Ferrari’s backing.

This included FP1 and test outings throughout 2016 and ’17, which now- Haas F1 team boss Ayao Komatsu was involved in through his previous role as the team’s head of trackside engineering.

Comparing and contrasting the impression Bearman has made on Haas against that of Leclerc’s, Komatsu said he suspected Leclerc had been more conservative in his approach as he simply can’t remember clearly how the young Ferrari talent fared with the American squad.

“It was a very long time ago so I don’t remember the details,” Komatsu told media, including PlanetF1.com, when asked about Leclerc’s time as a budding talent.

“But, from what I remember, the team was in a very different position as well.

“We are still a young team, but back then we were an even younger team. So the position of the team was different.

“The ability for us to be able to assess young drivers was different.

“But, also the approach of Charles honestly, I don’t remember totally, very well, but I don’t know – maybe he was too conservative.

“I really cannot remember, I don’t want to say something wrong! But it is true that he didn’t give us the same impression. Different times, different challenges, I guess.”

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Ayao Komatsu praises Oliver Bearman: He understands context very well

With Bearman set to make his full-time debut next season after standing in as a super-sub for the ill Carlos Sainz in Saudi Arabia this season, the British driver becomes the first rookie to enter the sport since Nyck de Vries (aside from a sub appearance in 2022), Logan Sargeant, and Oscar Piastri debuted at the start of 2023.

Having turned to experience for the last two years as Haas had Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen for the 2023 and ’24 seasons, Komatsu said he isn’t concerned by the inevitable errors Bearman will make as he learns the tricks of the trade in F1.

“I think you’ve got to look at the individual mistakes,” he said. “You can’t just call a mistake as one word.

“Every situation is different, you’ve got to judge with context. It might be a right mistake to make, or it might be the wrong mistake.

“It really depends on context – where are you in the championship? Where are you on the grid? What phase of the race is it? Is this the place to take the risk? Is this the event to be conservative?”

Having witnessed first-hand how Bearman has adjusted to the scenarios that he’s been placed in, Komatsu says he’s optimistic the young British driver won’t prove to be over-exuberant or careless in his debut season.

“But the thing is, what we’ve seen with Ollie, he understands the picture very well, he understands the context very well,” he said.

“So my expectation is if he was going to make a mistake, he would make a mistake in the right way, if you like.”

What Charles Leclerc has to say about Oliver Bearman F1 debut

With Leclerc having gone on to make a huge impression after being signed to race for Alfa Romeo Sauber in 2018, he earned himself a promotion to Ferrari to replace Kimi Raikkonen for 2019 and even eclipsed Sebastian Vettel’s achievements over the next two years.

Now an established F1 frontrunner, Leclerc said he has no doubts from what he’s seen that Bearman, following in his footsteps as a Ferrari junior, has what it takes to make it in F1.

“I know Ollie very well, he’s such an incredibly talented driver,” Leclerc said.

“I think that what you need in your first year is always very specific to each driver because it also depends on how much preparation you’ve had before getting there.

“I think Ollie is very well prepared and he has shown that in Jeddah when he jumped in the car and was straightaway, very, very strong.

“But I think one tip, typical advice that I will give him, is to not put himself under too much pressure. He’s still very, very young. The speed – he has it, he has shown it several times, he’s not having an easy season as the team is struggling a little bit in Formula 2 – quite a lot, actually. But he’s incredibly fast.

“I have no doubt that he will be super fast in Formula 1, he just needs to take his time, make the mistakes that he needs to in order to learn and to become a better driver, and not put yourself under too much pressure, because that’s where sometimes you can perform a little bit less, not at your optimum potential. And so yeah, just go for it and enjoy it.”

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