Oliver Bearman matched his career-worst result to date in the Spanish Grand Prix, as the Haas driver only scored a 17th-place finish at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The 20-year-old has also registered the worst Grand Prix finishes of his raw Formula 1 career in the last three rounds, having also finished the Emilia Romagna GP in P17. Bearman is also without a point in his last five starts after coming last among the classified finishers in Spain.
Bearman had initially finished the Spanish GP in P13, but fell to the rear of the field after the chequered flag having merited a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. He took to the Turn 1 run-off while fighting Liam Lawson for P11 on Lap 52 of 66.
Racing Bulls star Lawson had got the nose of his VCARB 02 ahead of Bearman’s VF-25 into Turn 1. But the Haas racer refused to yield after being run to the edge of the circuit. Lawson got in front of his fellow rookie shortly after, and was followed through by Fernando Alonso.
Haas left Oliver Bearman running ‘blind’ in the Spanish GP after a late set-up change
Bearman’s penalty ensured Haas held the final two positions in the classified results for the Spanish GP, with teammate Esteban Ocon only able to finish in P16 and 5.132 seconds from the Briton before his time penalty. Bearman and Ocon had even only qualified P15 and P17.
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Their woes at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya leave the American F1 team chasing form, even after Haas ran their first major upgrades of 2025 at Imola recently. And Bearman feels Haas also left him running ‘blind’ in the Spanish GP by changing his set-up before qualifying.
“We made big changes before qualifying, which really made a difference,” Bearman shared, via quotes by Motorsport-Total. “But it’s obviously a bit late to start with a new car in Q1. In qualifying and ultimately in the race, we were sort of blind, which made it difficult for us.”
Haas must address their tyre degradation problems after Oliver Bearman’s Spanish GP woes
Tyre degradation proved to be one of the main problems that Haas faced in the Spanish GP. But Bearman and Ocon failing to qualify higher than P15 and P17 also ensured they started the day on the wrong foot. Ocon did not get into Q2 by 0.062s to Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar.
Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll withdrawing from the Spanish GP through injury promoted Bearman and Ocon up to P14 and P16 on the grid. Yet points were ultimately still out of the question, as Bearman took the chequered flag 5.239s outside the top 10 before his penalty.
Bearman’s margin to the top 10 also only became 5.239s after Max Verstappen’s penalty for driving into George Russell in the Spanish GP last Sunday. The Red Bull racer also drew a 10-second time penalty, which moved Alonso into the points after he overtook Lawson on L65.
