Ayao Komatsu ‘a little nervous’ about change to Oliver Bearman’s Haas F1 car that could ‘backfire’ at Imola

Oliver Bearman heads to Imola as an F1 driver for the first time this weekend, with the Haas ace keen to bounce back from his Miami blues at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The track in Ferrari’s backyard is not an unfamiliar circuit for the Scuderia’s academy product after Bearman even sampled Imola in a Formula 1 car last season. Haas gave the 20-year-old his first drive in their 2024 car in FP1 at the Emilia Romagna GP in place of Kevin Magnussen.

Bearman will hope to now draw on that experience after penning his first race retirement as a full-time F1 driver last time out in the Miami GP. His Ferrari engine failed on Lap 19 of 57 and left the Briton stranded to cap off a weekend to forget in Florida, after also qualifying in P19.

Haas have also failed to score a point with Bearman or Esteban Ocon in the past two rounds of the 2025 F1 season. Bearman responded to a challenging Australian GP for the American crew with points in China, Japan and Bahrain, but he then failed to in Saudi Arabia or Miami.

Ayao Komatsu is ‘nervous’ that Haas’ Imola upgrades will not fix their bouncing problems

Team principal Ayao Komatsu has also confirmed that Haas will fit their first major upgrades of the year on Bearman and Ocon’s cars at Imola. The American squad hope to resolve their instability problems in Italy, as the VF-25’s aerodynamics have caused their bouncing issues.

READ MORE: Who is 2025 Haas driver Oliver Bearman? Everything to know

Yet Haas are not fully convinced that their upgrades at the Emilia Romagna GP are certain to work as they desire. Haas have already introduced one emergency solution to improve their car’s bouncing issues with a modified floor in Japan, but will debut further changes at Imola.

Komatsu said, via Auto Motor und Sport: “We’re a little nervous. With these cars, no one – except McLaren – can be sure that this won’t backfire. What we experienced in Melbourne is something other teams had already experienced at various stages of the season last year.”

Oliver Bearman will hope Haas’ Emilia Romagna Grand Prix upgrades prevent a repeat of his Australian Grand Prix

Haas have aimed their upgrades for the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola towards increasing the aerodynamic downforce levels of Bearman and Ocon’s car to try and remove their bouncing problems. The untested floor Haas debuted at Suzuka only “partially” solved their problems.

The season-opening Australian Grand Prix provided Haas with a major wake-up call to their problems, as Ocon set the slowest lap time in qualifying before coming home in P13 ahead of Bearman in P14. Ocon and Bearman were the final two classified finishers in Melbourne.

Yet Shanghai’s resurfaced track helped Bearman rise from P17 to P8 in the Chinese GP, with Haas’ bouncing issues not as severe thanks to the smoother track. They will now hope their major upgrades at Imola mean Bearman and Ocon are not as affected on any track surface.