Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu has rejected the suggestion that Oliver Bearman has not experienced low lows during his rookie season in F1.
The British driver's debut campaign was punctuated with a superb fourth-place finish at the recent Mexico City Grand Prix, but his boss was quick to dismiss the idea that the 20-year-old's high point was not accompanied by lows.
20 rounds into the schedule, Bearman has accrued 32 of Haas' 62 points, with his result at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez lifting him above team-mate Esteban Ocon in the standings.
But when it was put to Komatsu that the young driver has not had any low lows or any really poor performances, the Japanese engineer set the record straight.
Bluntly replying to media, including RacingNews365, he responded: "I don't understand what you mean," before highlighting two moments that have earned Bearman a combined six penalty points on his FIA super licence.
"I'm sorry, but overtaking under a red flag is low," Komatsu continued, addressing his driver's incident with Carlos Sainz at Monaco before moving on to his shocking error at Silverstone.
"Shunting in the pit lane under a red flag is low. How much lower can you go? So there are highs and lows."
Ahead of the São Paulo Grand Prix, two penalty points were dropped from Bearman's FIA super licence, alleviating the immediate danger of a race ban.
"I'm saying that he's got the speed," Komatsu added. "That's not a question, right? But to harness that potential, we've got to consistently deliver the results, in qualifying and the race.
"To do that in the build-up, you cannot have a shunt under a red flag or overtake somebody under a red flag or have an unnecessary shunt.
"That is low, because that completely affects what you can do in qualifying, your grid position, then in such a tight midfield..."
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Mexico as evidence
To further illustrate his argument, Komatsu underlined how Bearman's fourth-place finish in Mexico was contingent upon being ahead of quicker rivals and making use of clean air.
"You saw in Mexico how important it is to be ahead," the 49-year-old explained. "[Oscar] Piastri, much quicker car, but he was so far back from the start, so he had to come through, and it's difficult — especially in Mexico, because everybody is likely doing some cooling.
"But our car, in the free air... Ollie spent most of the time in free air. Look at Max [Verstappen] behind. Okay, Max was on medium tyre, but behind [Bearman], he fell off.
"But Red Bull is the faster car. Okay, he was on mediums, we were on softs, better tyre... but everything, like qualifying in the correct position to be able to use free air in the race, everything matters.
"So when you make those mistakes in FP1, FP2, FP3, or qualifying, that is low."
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