Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu wants to set clear rules in the internal duel between Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman to avoid situations like 2021
Esteban Ocon is not exactly considered the easiest teammate in the Formula 1 paddock. The Frenchman “earned” this reputation during his years at Force India, where there were several dicey situations and even accidents with his then teammate Sergio Perez.
Even later in his career, Ocon drew the ire of teammate Fernando Alonso more than once at Alpine. So the obvious question is how Haas will deal with the completely new driver pairing of Ocon and rookie Oliver Bearman in 2025?
“The rules must be completely clear from day one,” says team principal Ayao Komatsu when asked. He says they will clarify ‘before the first race’ what is and is not allowed. He basically supports hard racing, says the Japanese.
But he also makes it clear: “I don’t expect any contact between teammates, and no retirements because of it.” Looking back over the past two years, he is confident that it will work out well between Ocon and Bearman.
With Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg, they had two drivers who were not necessarily best friends before. And although Magnussen in particular had a reputation as a “tough racer”, there were almost never any problems on the track, Komatsu emphasizes.
Schumacher and Masepin not a “good example”
His memories of the 2021 season, when the team had two rookies in the car in the form of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Masepin, are quite different. When asked about this, the team principal says with a laugh: “I don’t think Nikita and Mick are a good example!”
“If we had to go back to that combination, we’d have a problem,” smiles Komatsu, because the two ambitious Formula 1 newcomers didn’t really get along, either on or off the racetrack.
For example, there was almost a collision between the two at the race in Baku, a good month later they touched on the first lap at the sprint in Silverstone, and there was another critical moment after the summer break at Zandvoort.
And there was also some trouble behind the scenes because, according to Masepin, Schumacher was getting better material. The situation escalated to the point where Masepin’s father Dmitri, then a sponsor of the team, threatened to pull out of the deal.
Komatsu: “Shouldn’t cause chaos as a team”
Komatsu, who was then chief engineer and has since been promoted to team boss, can do without such trouble. Ultimately, however, it is also the team’s job to ensure that such situations do not arise in the first place, he explains.
You don’t have to go back to 2021 to find situations from which you can learn in this regard. Even from the 2024 season, there are things that the team wants to do better this year.
For example, there was a situation in Spielberg last year in which the team put the drivers in an unfortunate position with the strategy, which Magnussen in particular was frustrated by. “As a team, we shouldn’t cause such chaos,” says Komatsu.
If they can manage that in 2025, he doesn’t expect any problems between his two new drivers either.
