Oliver Bearman bemoaned his best-ever Formula 1 qualifying result at the British Grand Prix being derailed by a 10-place grid penalty.
Bearman’s Saturday at Silverstone was a tale of two halves.
The final practice session saw the British racing driver lose his VF-25 at pit entry under a red flag caused by Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto.
Upon investigation, Bearman was found to be at speeds beyond the permitted limits prompting the stewards to hand him a 10-place grid drop for the race on Sunday.
But during qualifying, the 20-year-old redeemed himself after a stellar Q3 effort saw him clock a lap time good enough for eighth on the grid, beating his previous best.
That said, he is slated to start the race tomorrow from the back end of the grid owing to his FP3 mishap.
“On one hand, we bought an upgrade this weekend and clearly it’s showing potential because our qualifying pace has not been fantastic recently and now to be in Q3 on merit is a good feeling,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“I only did one new set of tyres in Q2 as well, which normally only the top teams do.
“So, we actually had a very, very strong qualifying and the car was feeling great, the best it’s ever felt for me.
“Then, of course, I’m really disappointed in myself because I’ve let my team down today.”
Bearman ‘angry’ at himself after costly error
Bearman was pretty self-critical about his incident during FP3 that not only earned him a grid penalty, but also handed the mechanics a job to rebuild the car in time for qualifying.
“I didn’t account for the cold brakes and tyres. So, silly error, one that shouldn’t happen at this level,” he admitted. “Just a misjudgment from my side, really.”
And while he accepts the grid penalty imposed on him, he conceded that he was shocked by the four penalty points added to his super license for the incident.
This now brings his tally up to eight, with drivers risking a one-race ban if they accumulate more than 12 points within a one-year period.
Irrespective, Bearman doesn’t view his qualifying performances to have absolved him of his error in judgment leading to the incident.
“It’s not a relief. I’m still angry at myself and very sad, but I’m glad at least that we could show the good thing today was that we have a quick car in qualifying trim, which hasn’t been the case more recently. So I’m really proud of the team for bringing in a successful upgrade,” he explained.
The upgrades have made a difference to the race-ability of the Haas and he expects to make a few moves in the race tomorrow as he hopes to salvage a good result for the team.
“If we have a car that’s P8 in qualifying, it means we have a very quick race car because normally our quali car is not quite as fast as our race car. So hopefully that stays and we can have a good one tomorrow,” concluded Bearman.
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