Why Komatsu believes Ocon has put questions about his “not a team player” image to rest

There’s a scene in the latest season of Drive to Survive where Ayao Komatsu is challenged by one of his staff members on whether signing Esteban Ocon was the right decision for the team.

“Are you fully 100% sure that Ocon is a good fit for us?” the Japanese manager is asked.

Signing the Frenchman, with his reputation as “not a team player” raised questions both in the media and internally. The deal was announced a few months after Ocon’s collision with his then-team-mate Pierre Gasly in Monaco, which attracted heavy criticism – to the point that some speculated the Alpine management might even bench him for the following race in Canada.

Concerns that Ocon could be difficult to manage sparked questions about whether replacing Haas’ long-time stalwart Kevin Magnussen was the right move.

“The main thing for me is his work ethic. You can see he can race. So, I am pretty confident he was the best choice,” Komatsu said at the time, addressing the team. In an on-camera interview, he added: “For drivers to perform, they need to be comfortable with the environment, and I believe as Haas F1 team we are providing that environment.”

A year later, Komatsu feels he doesn’t even need to justify the move. Ocon, he believes, has proven enough to the team and outside critics that doubts about his approach were misplaced.

The clearest evidence of Ocon’s work ethic, Komatsu says, came at Spa, where the Frenchman voluntarily let his team-mate Oliver Bearman through because he felt the British driver was faster.

“Absolutely, yes,” Komatsu told Autosport when asked if Ocon had eliminated all doubts about being a reliable team player. “Did you not see it [at Spa]?”

Ocon, running 11th in the first part of the race, was on a low-downforce set-up as the team had decided to split the approach between the two cars. On the damp track, he was struggling to keep up and ultimately decided to let his team-mate pass.

“I was holding him up in the middle sector quite a lot and I was damaging my tyres much more,” Ocon explained after the race.

Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

To Komatsu, there was no clearer proof.

“I didn’t even have to give a team order,” Komatsu said. “Esteban let Ollie pass by himself. That’s the answer for you. Honestly, both of them have been great team players.

“I think that when you guys [the media] were asking about this at the end of last year, I said that I was confident, but I wasn’t saying that just to be saying it. I really believed that if we build up a foundation with trust and respect between the drivers and the team, if that foundation is there – because we’re not going to do everything right every time, some team orders we issue might be a mistake – but as long as we’ve got that foundation of trust, transparency, and respect, none of it will escalate.”

Komatsu insists both of his current drivers are always ready to play their team roles, with clear rules about differing strategies defined through internal discussions.

“We had to split the downforce level for the main qualifying and race [at Spa] because of uncertainty on the weather, etc. Then, Sunday morning, we had a chat because with that much difference in the downforce level, at a certain point, one car is going to be much quicker than the other. So, we sat down, the three of us talked – totally clear. Therefore, in the race, Esteban just said, ‘I’m going to let Ollie pass now.’ [We] didn’t even ask. That’s it. So, that’s your answer.”

Even when Ocon and Bearman collided during the race at Silverstone, it didn’t cause any controversy – despite the team losing points.

Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

“Silverstone was a very specific circumstance where there was only one dry line, so it caused an issue, but none of them were intentional,” Komatsu explained. “I had a very good chat [with the drivers], totally fine, but even before that point, every single time we had to issue a team order, driver swap, every single time: zero question, [they] do it straight away. Brilliant.

“If we make mistakes, we’re going to talk about it after the race in a completely open manner, like we did in Silverstone. Both drivers touching each other, that’s not what we wanted to do. But we sat down, we talked about it, we all said our observations, our opinions. We said, this is what we’re going to do going forward. Zero issues.”

For Komatsu, it all boils down to building those relationships on top a base layer of mutual trust between team and driver, which had eroded for Ocon elsewhere. But that remains an on-going process.

“For me, that’s the key, just the foundation. Just the trust, transparency, respect,“ he added.

“Everyone’s a human being. If the driver doesn’t trust the team, the team doesn’t trust the driver. If you felt, let’s say, ‘this decision is forced upon me,’ of course it’s not going to be the best in terms of human being. So it’s not even a racing thing. It’s just more fundamental human quality. Respect, transparency, honesty, inclusion. All that, to be honest, is what we’re trying to build inside this team.

“Esteban had experienced many years in Formula 1, good and bad, but now I feel like we’ve got this foundation. Of course, it’s something you’ve got to build on every single time, but we are doing that. So I think fundamental trust is there.”