Haas’s decision to put the new engine supplied by Ferrari in Oliver Bearman’s car during the 2026 Italian GP of Formula 1 was not made solely based on performance. According to Ayao Komatsu, team principal, the choice also took into account the recent history of updates received by Esteban Ocon.
Read more F1: Verstappen will have Lambiase back for the rest of the weekend in Italy
Haas understood that it made no sense to leave an updated unit parked in the garage on a circuit like Monza. The team received only the minimum amount required by the regulations: when Ferrari makes an upgraded power unit from the ADUO available to its factory team, it must also provide a unit to each customer team.
The situation was different from the previous ADUO update, introduced by Ferrari in Barcelona. On that occasion, Haas preferred to wait until it had enough engines to put the upgrade on both cars at the same time. For the Italian GP, however, Monza’s power sensitivity weighed on the decision to bring forward the debut in Bearman’s car.
“Customers need to have an ‘A’ unit,” Komatsu confirmed to the press. “Last time, we didn’t [give it to a driver]; we waited until we had enough engines to introduce it to both drivers together. But this time, Monza is a circuit very sensitive to power, so it’s a shame to have performance sitting in the garage, right?”
“It would have been better if at least two engines were available, but Ferrari is doing its best to extract the maximum performance from the engine. Of course, they want to introduce it at Monza, right? But that means they have the minimum quantity, so it’s just to comply with the regulations.”
Read more F1: Hadjar thanks Red Bull for recovering Monaco podium
For Komatsu, the choice also needed to consider the distribution of previous updates between the two drivers: “It’s not an aerodynamic update, like items we’ve had, such as a CI brake test, and Esteban was suffering more with the brakes, so, considering the Montreal update we gave Ollie, we decided to give the brake update first to Esteban, and in terms of power steering, we had another update in Budapest. “We decided to give that to Esteban because he was more vocal about the issue and was suffering more with the power steering, so the last update we gave to Esteban, and this time, it was for Ollie.”
The manager also stated that the team seeks to make this type of decision openly, even knowing that it will not always be able to meet the interests of both drivers. “There’s no point in beating around the bush, right? We operate as transparently as possible, and of course, you can’t please everyone all the time, but we have no hidden agenda.”
“We have no personal agenda for one driver or the other. So, we have been building this relationship. Maybe, of course, Esteban is not happy about not receiving the fourth power unit immediately. But this is best for the team, and this is the fairest way to do it. But nothing is completely fair, right? So all we can do is be transparent and straightforward about it,” he concluded.
Ocon is at the center of rumors in the F1 paddock. The team is expected to replace the Frenchman with a rookie in 2027. Brazilian Rafael Câmara is one of the candidates and was recently evaluated during a test at the Portimão circuit in Portugal.
