Ollie Bearman to take part in Australian Grand Prix qualifying
Despite going off track again in the third free practice session, Ollie Bearman will be able to take part in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.
The weekend for Ollie Bearman and Haas in general is particularly complicated. With a clear drop in performance compared to the competition, the American team’s schedule was significantly disrupted by the two off-track excursions of the Briton.
Thus, the one who is about to start his first full F1 season made a mistake during the first practice session which proved to be very costly. Indeed, after going wide, he was propelled into the safety barrier after passing through the gravel trap. His car was so damaged that his mechanics were unable to repair all the damage in time for the second practice session. Therefore, he only completed twelve laps on this first test day.
But above all, this accident has already forced the team to change all five elements of its power unit! Obviously, the team and Ferrari will conduct analyses once back at the factory to see if some elements can be salvaged for the rest of the season. However, the young driver’s very limited quota is already used up, and we are only at the first of the 24 race weekends.
It’s an understatement to say that the third practice session on Saturday morning turned out to be crucial. But things got even more complicated as the former Ferrari stand-in went off into the gravel trap right at the start of the session, after just one and a half laps!
We have a red flag! 🔴
Ollie Bearman is into the gravel on his first push lap in FP3#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/PL0JyDS69F
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 15, 2025
One hour and a quarter before the qualifying session, Haas announced that the car 87 did not suffer significant damage during this non-contact outing. Ollie Bearman will therefore be able to take part in the qualifying session. With little hope of going beyond Q1 as the car seems to be lagging…
