Motor racing-Haas to decide 2027 driver line-up within couple of weeks赛车运动——哈斯车队将在几周内决定2027赛季的车手阵容
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept 24 (Reuters) - American Formula One team Haas are evaluating a number of drivers and will finalise their 2027 line-up within the next couple of weeks team, boss Ayao Komatsu said on Thursday, a day after the team's under-pressure racer Esteban Ocon declared himself a "free agent."
Formula One F1 - Dutch Grand Prix - Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort, Netherlands - August 21, 2026 Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu arrives ahead of practice REUTERS/Jakub Porzycki
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept 24 (Reuters) - American Formula One team Haas are evaluating a number of drivers and will finalise their 2027 line-up within the next couple of weeks team, boss Ayao Komatsu said on Thursday, a day after the team’s under-pressure racer Esteban Ocon declared himself a “free agent.”
“We haven’t made any decision yet,” Komatsu told reporters on Thursday ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
“We still are trying to finalise what we’re going to do for next year.”
Race winner Ocon, 30, who joined Haas last year alongside Ferrari-backed Briton Oliver Bearman, on Wednesday said he was talking to other teams.
Multiple media reports, meanwhile, have identified Ferrari-supported Brazilian Rafael Camara, currently second in the Formula 2 standings, as favourite to replace him.
Komatsu confirmed that Camara, 2025 Formula Two champion and McLaren reserve Leonardo Fornaroli, Toyota-backed Japanese racer Ryo Hirakawa and the team’s current reserve Jack Doohan were all options Haas could choose from, with the team having run them in private tests in older cars.
“If that wasn’t the option, why do we test?” said Komatsu.
“We’ve done all the evaluations, so we’re just waiting to summarise our findings, have a discussion internally, have a chat with (team owner) Gene (Haas), and then we’ll take the final decision.”
When asked if keeping Ocon was still an option, Komatsu answered:“Yes. Like I said, we haven’t made any decisions yet.”
Responding to Ocon’s “free agent” comment, Komatsu said, “Every driver has, let’s say, a closing certain point in the year to decide on the option.
“It just means that we haven’t decided on that option yet, but that was quite a long time ago.
“So his situation hasn’t really changed.”
(Reporting by Abhishek Takle in Baku, editing by Ed Osmond)
Thank you for your report!
一级方程式F1 - 荷兰大奖赛 - 赞德沃特赛道，赞德沃特，荷兰 - 2026年8月21日 哈斯车队领队小松绫男在练习赛前抵达 路透社/雅库布·波尔齐茨基
阿塞拜疆巴库，9 月 24 日（路透社）——美国一级方程式车队哈斯正在评估多名车手，并将在未来几周内最终确定其 2027 年的车手阵容。车队老板小松绫男周四表示，此前一天，该车队压力巨大的车手埃斯特班·奥康宣布自己成为“自由车手”。
“我们还没有做出任何决定，”小松在周四阿塞拜疆大奖赛前告诉记者。
“我们仍在努力敲定明年的工作计划。”
30岁的奥康是本场比赛的冠军，他去年与法拉利支持的英国车手奥利弗·贝尔曼一起加入了哈斯车队。周三，他表示正在与其他车队洽谈。
与此同时，多家媒体报道称，目前在F2积分榜上排名第二的法拉利支持的巴西车手拉斐尔·卡马拉是取代他的热门人选。
小松确认，卡马拉、2025 年二级方程式冠军、迈凯伦车队预备车手莱昂纳多·福纳罗利、丰田支持的日本车手平川亮以及车队目前的预备车手杰克·杜汉都是哈斯车队可以选择的车手，车队已经让他们驾驶旧款赛车进行了私人测试。
“如果不是这个选择，我们为什么要进行测试呢？”小松说道。
“我们已经完成了所有评估，现在只是在等待总结我们的调查结果，进行内部讨论，与（车队老板）吉恩（哈斯）谈谈，然后我们才会做出最终决定。”
当被问及是否仍有可能留下奥康时，小松回答说：“是的。就像我说的，我们还没有做出任何决定。”
针对奥康的“自由球员”言论，小松表示：“每个车手，比如说，每年都有一个截止日期来决定是否续约。
“这只是意味着我们还没有决定采用那种方案，但那是很久以前的事了。”
“所以他的处境并没有真正改变。”
（阿比舍克·塔克勒在巴库报道，埃德·奥斯蒙德编辑）
感谢您的报告！