Ayo Komatsu: We can’t afford two newcomers

At Silverstone, Haas F1 boss Ayo Komatsu spoke about the team’s makeup in 2025…

Q: On Thursday you announced Oliver Berman’s contract for next season and said he was a perfect fit. What exactly?
Ayo Komatsu: We are in the process of becoming. We are a relatively young team that is currently going through a restart process. Ollie is a talented and smart young racer. He is very calm and at the same time mature, fast and likes to work in a team. That is what we want to see, that is what I mean by perfect combination.

Q: Oliver got behind the wheel on Friday for his first practice session. Have you noticed any changes in his approach now that he has secured a long-term future with the team?
Ayo Komatsu: No. Again, he surprised us with his maturity when he first got behind the wheel of our car in Mexico. Of course he was excited, but he understood the team’s goal, what this session meant for us, what we had to achieve.

He always tries to go as fast as possible, but he sees the bigger picture very well. That was impressive then and it hasn’t changed now. I’m sure that after the contract was announced he was happy to be riding at his home circuit and enjoyed it. But the approach was exactly the same.

Q: How does Ollie’s contract affect the choice of the second driver?
Ayo Komatsu: A team like ours can’t afford two newcomers. So now that we have Ollie as a newcomer, we will try to bring in someone with more experience in Formula 1.

Q: You had a great performance last week in Austria. Are you confident that you can build on your success at the British Grand Prix?
Ayo Komatsu: I’m not sure we can finish sixth and eighth here. It requires someone to be unlucky. But I’m sure we can fight for the points.

If we remember all eleven races of this season, not counting the failures in Monaco, then even in the races where we did not score points we finished in eleventh place five times. In Bahrain we were 12th. We were always in the fight for the points.

This weekend we have installed several new parts. Now we have to understand if they will allow us to take a step forward. If they do not cause a slump, we can fight for the points. We have a chance to finish the race in ninth and tenth, that will be the goal.

Q: How did these new products perform on Friday?
Ayo Komatsu: We are still collecting information. In the morning Niko drove the previous version of the car, and in the afternoon we installed all the new ones for him. Comparison of telemetry and his comments will help us make a decision.