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Ollie Bearman has yet to start his full rookie season in Formula 1, but Haas is already convinced he has what it takes to be a future Ferrari driver.
His impressive debut in Saudi Arabia last year, following a late call-up to replace the unwell Carlos Sainz at Ferrari, proved he had the speed and ability to cope under pressure when it mattered.
And he followed that up with a strong weekend as Kevin Magnussen's replacement at Haas in Baku and another with impressive peaks (albeit a difficult Sunday) in Brazil, further enhancing his reputation.
For Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu, who did not hesitate to sign the 19-year-old up for this year, there are aspects of Bearman's approach that elevate him above a host of other youngsters who have proved to be quick.
That is why Komatsu says he knew "straight away" in Bearman's first ever F1 weekend run in FP1 for the 2023 Mexican Grand Prix that he was good enough to secure a full-time seat at his squad.
"It is everything," says Komatsu, when asked about what has impressed him about Bearman. "I said it many times, but it's just the whole package. It's not just the speed.
"I've seen some rookie drivers who come into an FP1 session and then be quick, but then many of those guys are really focused on proving that they are quick, right? But Ollie wasn't like that at all."
Beyond the out-and-out speed on display, there were other signs in Mexico of how ready Bearman was, Komatsu says.
"I saw more than enough in terms of his speed potential, but what interested me most was beforehand, he really understood what his role was in the FP1 session in Mexico, and what team needed to get out of it. He knew how we needed him to approach the FP1, and then it was the understanding of that, and execution of that."
A standout moment for Komatsu too was how Bearman composed himself between some qualifying simulation runs - after messing up his first effort.
"He wasn't going all balls out, but it was a quali sim and he made a mistake," recalls Komatsu.
"During the cooldown laps, with team feedback, he himself was able to really digest what he had done, and adjust it, and then correct it for the second push lap as well.
"Then also in the debrief, the calmness and the way he can explain things, working with the team. I could not believe he was 18. Seriously. He is nice as well, you know."
And it's not just when things are going right that Bearman has impressed Haas, because there have also been situations that have not been ideal where he has still shone.
One of these was in Azerbaijan last year, where Bearman was racing as a result of Magnussen's one-race ban.
In the race, Bearman's pace in the first stint was disappointing because Haas had told him to manage tyre degradation too much.
That put him in a situation where Haas imposed team orders on Bearman to let team-mate Nico Hulkenberg through - something that caused a bit of angst.
But, from Komatsu's viewpoint, how Bearman handled that moment said much about his mindset.
"Ollie, again, to his credit, he was just following what we told him in terms of tyre management, but what we told him was too conservative," adds Komatsu.
"Nico was gaining lots of time on Ollie, but we as a team had another operational inefficiency. We should have then updated Ollie already straight away, saying: 'Look, our target was wrong. Nico was pushing more, but the tyre is fine, so you can push more'. We should have done that, but we didn't.
"It meant at the end of the first stint that we had to swap Nico and Ollie, and of course Ollie he was unhappy. And rightly so. He complained, but he just did it [the swap] - and that's the right action. He didn't argue about it."
Komatsu says that the discussion over the rights and wrongs of the team orders continued after the race, but he was impressed with how Bearman took everything that was said on board.
"We discussed about it: what we've done wrong, what we could have done better, and we move on.
"Even back then, I think he was already 19, to have that maturity to say: 'Yes, I'm not happy what happened, but it's a team order, so I do it without any hesitation'. And ultimately it didn't cost him anything."
Bearman later overtook Hulkenberg in the race for a points finish by pouncing when his team-mate hesitated after a yellow flag ended.
"He's very, very calm, you know," Komatsu adds. "He understands the bigger picture, and he is able to execute, and learn so fast as well.
"I'm so excited to see how much we can improve with him."
All of these qualities have convinced Komatsu that Bearman has great things ahead of himself in F1 - and will absolutely be on Ferrari's radar when it needs to look for a potential successor to Lewis Hamilton in a few years' time.
"We've got him for two years; two plus one [an option for an extra year]," said Komatsu. "But if we do a good job and if Ollie does a good job, there's no way Ferrari can ignore that."
