Ollie Bearman’s nascent F1 career has been on a consistently upward trajectory— until FP3 in Baku, when he suffered his first minor setback.
Bearman knew he wouldn’t make the left-hand first corner, so he tried to swing his car to the right so he could loop around in the run-off area. It’s a very normal thing to do in Baku. But he was carrying too much speed and left it too late to bail out, causing the front-left of his Haas to clip the barrier.
You could hear over the radio just how frustrated Bearman was with himself. “I’m such an idiot,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”
It’s not ideal for Haas, but in only his second F1 start and his first full grand prix weekend, mistakes like this are to be expected from Bearman. He was quick on Friday, so once his car gets patched up for qualifying, expect him to be a factor still.
