Bearman Reveals Haas Setup Disaster as He Sends Run Plan Warning to Team
· Yahoo Sports
Oliver Bearman urges Haas to get things sorted after a wrong setup in FP2 that set him back in F1 Bahrain GP qualifying eventually.
While Esteban Ocon had the strategy wrong in Q1 after he went early to start his run in F1Bahrain GP in Malaysia qualifying, Haas teammate Bearman revealed a radical issue that plagued him. Both conceded that the car was no better than a Q1 finish, but operational errors still hurt their chances.
Visit extonnews.click for more information.
Ocon had his thing in F1 qualifying, but for Bearman it started back on Friday. He had a decent FP1, but the setup they planned to run on his car in FP2 wasn’t the one that they eventually did. For some reason, he undertook the session on the wrong setup.
Bearman Reveals Glaring Issue That Hurt Him
It was so wrong that he had to describe it as something that no one would ever use on their F1 car, not even on an oval circuit. They assessed straightaway that there was something wrong in FP2. “For me, the issue has been an all-weekend-long one,” revealed Bearman after qualifying only 18th at the F1 Bahrain GP in Malaysia. “We started out in FP1.
“It was okay, but then in FP2, we had a problem with the car setup. Basically, the setup that we intended to put on the car was not the setup that ended up on the car. And the car ended up in a state that we would never intend to ever run a race car, not even on an oval. I think you would run this type of setup. And basically, from the first lap I did in FP2, so I told them guys something’s wrong with this car.”
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – OCTOBER 02: Esteban Ocon of France driving the (31) Haas F1 VF-26 Ferrari leads Oliver Bearman of Great Britain driving the (87) Haas F1 VF-26 Ferrari on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain in Malaysia at Sepang Circuit on October 02, 2026 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Photo by Andy Hone/LAT Images)Bearman Was Set Behind and Lost Confidence
This set him back totally as FP2 was a waste of a session for him. They rectified things for FP3, but he had less mileage eventually to prepare for the F1 qualifying session. He accepts that Haas was not in position to progress beyond Q2, but the mistake hurt them for a second weekend in a row after Baku.
“Yeah, and whenever lap you do when every second lap on the same set of tyres you do is 1 second off, if you lose two important laps, that’s almost half of your laps on a day,” continued Bearman. “So, I missed out on FP2 almost. It feels like we learned nothing. And a similar thing happened in Bahrain in Baku, but that was a failure. This time it was a bit more in our hands.
“But that really stopped us from getting through into Q2 today. In FP3, I had two push laps, and I was just trying to learn and figure out what the car needs because everybody else got to do that yesterday. I was kind of learning on the job and the only time I’ve actually had a good car and had a good feeling was in that final run.
“And I didn’t get everything out of the tyre because it’s the first time I actually had a decent balance all weekend. So, it’s just an important reminder, and we’ve had two in the last two weekends. Last weekend it was missing out on Q3. This weekend it’s missing out on Q2. But for the same reasons that we had a really messy Friday, and we need to do better on that,” summed up Bearman.
Bearman Doesn’t Put Blame on Any Specific Person
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – OCTOBER 03: Oliver Bearman of Great Britain driving the (87) Haas F1 VF-26 Ferrari on track during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain in Malaysia at Sepang Circuit on October 03, 2026 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Photo by Joe Portlock/LAT Images)The Brit didn’t wish to put blame on a specific person or the F1 team for the mistake. He feels these things can happen, but it cost them a chance to at least put up a fight, even if they were going to be knocked out in Q1 itself. Bearman thinks it is certainly a kick for the whole team.
“I mean, it’s just a basically, what we wanted to put on the car was not on the car, and it’s no specific person’s fault,” said Bearman. “It’s just processes missed and things like that. Everything is always a rush. It’s always last minute when we decide what to do. What we thought we were running, we were not running at all and that can happen.
“It’s part of life, but it’s a big kick for everybody to make sure that we’re on it because, without that, I’m in Q2 now and okay, the reality is that we’re not going to be quicker than P15, maybe on our best day, but we still missed out on our full potential. Whenever you don’t get your full potential, it sucks. So, that’s all,” summed up Bearman.
Bearman Hurt Not to Show Any Kind of Potential
It just hurt the Brit that they couldn’t even put up a fight. He felt the lap was pretty solid from his end in Q1, but it was still 18th. “In FP1, I looked competitive on the sustained, but in FP2 it was very uncompetitive,” continued Bearman.
“But we understand exactly why now as soon as we did the sit down on the car, we understood that something was terribly wrong. So, yeah, it’s just been a messy weekend and I mean, I feel like I really pulled it out the bag in qualifying, but when pulling it out the bag is giving you P18, it really hurts. So, that’s all,” summed up Bearman.