Oliver Bearman admitted he’s a bit disappointed to only qualify 10th for the Sprint despite being the fastest Haas at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix following his late call-up.
Kevin Magnussen was ruled out of Friday’s running after suffering with an illness overnight, with reserve driver Bearman called up to take part in FP1 and Sprint qualifying. Bearman showed strongly, advancing through to the final part of qualifying, but exceeding track limits at Turn 2 cost him significant time and ultimately led to his lap being deleted and he ended up P10.
“The car was feeling really good all day, honestly,” Bearman said. “From the first lap I did in P1 I had a great feeling, so happy to be in SQ3 and finally make it to the third stage of a qualifying session. But I made a little mistake in Sector 1 which lost me a lot of time, and the rest of the lap was really, really good so I’m a bit disappointed.”
Bearman’s appearance was only confirmed on Friday morning, the Ferrari youngster explaining that he found out he’d be driving only when Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu phoned him.
“Ayao woke me up this morning at like 6:30 with his call, but when I saw his name I wasn’t so mad — if it was my mom or something not realizing the time difference I’d have been a bit more angry!” he said.
“I give my best to Kevin because I know he’s feeling bad and he’s had a lot of success on this track — he did pole here — but of course very happy to jump in the F1 car. It’s always a pleasure.”
The fact he has qualified the car mandates Bearman will start in the Sprint before a decision is taken on Magnussen’s health, with the Dane able to race on Sunday as long as he qualifies the car on Saturday afternoon.
