racingnews365.com·
Oliver Bearman relishing 'never before' F1 challenge after 'hell' breakthrough
Oliver Bearman has described his excitement at being able to
develop an F1 car from scratch for the first time after making a
"hell" breakthrough in Barcelona. The Haas driver logged 106 laps
on the final day of the test, to go with the 85 from team-mate
Esteban Ocon as the team overcame some reliability woes on
Wednesday to end the first test strongly. For Bearman, 2026 marks
the first time in his career he has undergone a regulation change
in the formula he is driving, having risen through the spec junior
categories before making his full-time debut in the final year of
the ground effect design. Recounting his week, the Ferrari-backed
Briton described his excitement at being able to tackle the rule
changes after making a sizeable breakthrough in his understanding
during the shakedown. "We had the issues on Wednesday at the end,
they weren't big problems, they were all ones we could understand,
but they just took a while to fix," Bearman explained. "Luckily, we
were able to get back in the car [on Friday], and have a very clean
programme, and I learned a hell of a lot about the car. "We have so
many quality laps now that we have the data, which, compared to
Wednesday, was very interrupted and not very high on quality. "I've
got some vast impressions on what I like about the car, what I
dislike about the car in terms of its balance. "It's the biggest
change in the history of F1, so it's nice to be involved in that,
and to be at the front of that alongside Esteban, leading the way
in terms of how we're going to develop the car, and how we're going
to change things. "I've never had that opportunity before. I've
gone from spec series in F4, F3, and then F2, and last year,
Formula 1 was essentially a carryover of the previous years. There
was no change in regulations. "But this big change is fantastic,
and I really feel like, as drivers, we can get stuck in and make a
difference."
