Haas admits Bearman could be Ferrari driver in '27

Jan.27 (GMM) It’s possible Ferrari will pull Oliver Bearman back to Maranello for 2027, Haas boss Ayao Komatsu admits.

The 19-year-old British rookie’s first full season for Haas this year is most definitely linked with the team’s technical relationship with Ferrari.

Komatsu freely admits that Bearman “is a Ferrari driver”.

“We have him on loan for at least two years,” Haas’ Japanese team principal confirmed. “Two plus one,” he added, explaining the format of the contract.

“If we do a good job and Ollie does a good job, Ferrari will not be able to ignore him. But the fact that we have two years secured with him – provided nothing happens with Lewis (Hamilton) and Charles (Leclerc) – is great.

“If we make improvements together so that at the end of 2026 Ferrari insist on having Ollie in their car, that has to be a compliment to us,” said Komatsu.

“In the medium term, yes – I see him as a future Ferrari driver.”

Bearman has contested three one-off grands prix so far as a substitute driver. He scored points on debut in a Ferrari at Jeddah last year, and followed it up with another points finish for Haas in Baku.

Komatsu is highly impressed.

“With Ollie, it’s not just about his speed, it’s about everything. I almost couldn’t believe that this guy was only 18.

“In fact, we don’t treat him like a rookie in the sense that we pay very close attention to what he has to say. And every time he gets in the car, his feedback is excellent, his approach is outstanding, his speed is great.”

The Haas boss also revealed that the small American team will work closely together with Ferrari on Bearman’s progress in 2025.

“I am sure Ferrari will want feedback on a regular basis,” said Komatsu. “There will be a meeting in the first week of February so that I can understand exactly what kind of feedback Ferrari wants from us.”

He also insisted that despite Haas’ new engineering relationship with Toyota, the Haas-Ferrari collaboration is still at full steam.

“We have no plans to stop working in the wind tunnel in Maranello in the foreseeable future,” said Komatsu. “It’s a win-win situation, because if any difficulties arise, we can use Ferrari’s solution and don’t have to do that research ourselves.

“So I don’t see any point in stopping using this modern wind tunnel and switching to working with Toyota. At the moment, none of the teams use their tunnel in Cologne – only Andretti, but they’re not yet in the championship, of course.”