Rumours suggesting Ollie Bearman’s demand for a larger salary is the reason a new contract with Haas has been delayed are “absolute nonsense”, according to Ayao Komatsu.
Ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend, speculation has continued around the delay in Bearman being re-signed with Haas, the Briton stating on Thursday that “there’s a few things in the background that we’re working on“.
During Friday’s teams’ press conference in Mexico, Haas Team Principal Komatsu stated that he was unable to go into the details about the contract extension delay, but that “it’s very clear from both parties, from Ollie’s side, we want to continue working together”.
When asked if Bearman was requesting an excessive salary increase, with rumours circulating of 6 million euros, Komatsu blasted the suggestion.
“I have no idea where that came from. Honestly, I’ve experienced it sometimes this season as well. People say there is no smoke without fire, but some people really invent a story,” he said.
“What happened in Miami about apparently I had an argument with Esteban [Ocon], there’s just absolutely zero truth in it and even those people claiming that they have some insider information etc, absolute total nonsense. This one, again I don’t know who smoked up this 6 million euro number, that’s the first time I saw it on Instagram.
“Someone came up, this is a good thing to stir whatever up. I have no comments to make because it’s just not even close to the truth. Why do we engage in such absolute nonsense, what’s the point of it?
“Those people creating are not trying to help anything. It’s amazing these days that people don’t check the source. I want to get more clicks, get more likes, so they cut and paste those stories and keep running with it, and before you know it, there are 20 people running the story and they think it’s the truth. It’s absolute nonsense.”
If Bearman is retained it will mean that two Ferrari junior drivers will be driving for Haas next year, with current Formula 2 championship leader Rafael Camara having been confirmed as replacing Esteban Ocon in 2027.
With Haas using Ferrari’s engines and other car components, suggestions were made to Komatsu that the partnership was similar to that between Red Bull and Racing Bulls, something he denied.
“I think the way Red Bull and Racing Bulls are set up is very different to how we collaborate with Ferrari. We don’t have the same owner,” he said.
“We are two completely independent teams and then we don’t have a global programme in terms of how we bring the driver together, whereas Racing Bulls and Red Bull clearly work together, right? So that is a very different dynamic.
“Our collaboration with Ferrari, what it gives us, is access and opportunities. With Ollie for the first time here in FP1. That opportunity was available via our collaboration with Ferrari.
“But at no point did Ferrari say, ‘Oh, can you take Ollie as your race driver?’ Same as Rafael Camara.
“Of course, looking at the junior series, he’s shown incredible speed and exciting talent. And then, because of our collaboration, we had access.
“We developed talks and we said, ‘Okay, can we test Rafa in a TPC?’ We all agreed, we tested, and he was very, very fast. So, we chose him. Again, I have no concern. It’s just a benefit of our collaboration with Ferrari that we have access to those youngsters.”
