Bearman aiming to eliminate mistakes after Qualifying turnaround

31 March 2023

Oliver Bearman’s Melbourne weekend turned on its head twice during a dramatic Qualifying session, but the PREMA Racing driver is pleased to have something to show for his efforts overcoming the wet conditions. No sooner had running started when things went awry for the Brit, aquaplaning into the barriers between Turns 8 and 9 on his way back to the pits.

With his rear right suspension taking the brunt of the impact, it took a herculean effort from the Italian squad to replace the wishbone in time for him to get back out as the track improved. Navigating both his first time at the Albert Park Circuit and his first running in the rain in Formula 2, Bearman managed to do the job when it counted to claim P6.

Reflecting on a rollercoaster 30-minutes of running, Bearman says he needed to adopt a change in approach mid-session after his confidence took a knock and credited his team’s hard work for his ability to bounce back.

“It was a crazy session to be honest. First time driving this car in the wet, it's a bit of a different beast in the wet weather. We all saw my spin with the aquaplaning, I was actually trying to bring the car back to the box. I wasn't pushing, I was half throttle and I just hit the puddle and and completely lost the car.

“The team did a mega job to fix the car and I'm so proud of them. They really saved me today, so I have to say huge thanks to them because they helped me massively. The damage was so big, and they worked a miracle to fix it in such quick time, so huge, huge thanks to them. Also, congratulations because the car was really good, even after the damage.

“It took me a bit of time to get up to speed. Of course, my confidence was kind of negative after the incident. We changed tyres, went for the second run like everyone else and I managed to see between runs where I was losing time compared to my teammate. I was just approaching the wet weather a bit wrong, but it was my first time in the wet, so I needed a bit of time to adapt.

“Once I kind of knew what to do and got my bearings, I got one lap. I managed to stick it up in P6, really happy with that considering everything. If you told me this morning that it was going to be a wet Quali and I’d finish P6, I would have been happy regardless of everything. With everything that happened in that session, P6 is a really nice result.”

While he’s shown flashes of brilliance throughout the first two rounds, Bearman’s story so far has been paved with major learning curves and frustrations. Struggling with the tyres cost him a shot at more in Sakhir, whilst a collision with Théo Pourchaire took him out of the running in the Jeddah Sprint Race and a mistake battling Victor Martins allowed his PREMA teammate Frederik Vesti to jump him and go on to claim the victory in the Feature Race.

Situated right in the thick of the action for both Australian races, the Ferrari junior recognises that the ample overtaking opportunities mean a passage further ahead isn’t off the cards. Yet Bearman isn’t setting himself too lofty expectations given the unpredictability of the weekend. Instead, he’s focusing closer to home, targeting two clean races to secure decent points haul in order to move up from 16th in the Standings.

“We’re going off P5 for the Sprint Race and P6 for the Feature, two good starting positions. We’ve seen in F1 that you can overtake on this track. We had a really good performance in FP, so I’m looking to just keep that up and hopefully, we can bring home some solid points in the Sprint and also in the Feature.

“At this stage, it’s been a tough start to the season, a couple of things out of my control but also, I’m making steps as a driver. I feel like I did a decent job in Jeddah. Of course, the accident in Race 1 kind of put us a bit behind in terms of experience, which definitely didn’t help me for Race 2. I made the mistake as well which hurt us a lot, but considering everything, we still had really strong pace in Jeddah.

“Qualifying was good and even in the races, I felt like without that spin, I would have been up there for a decent position. Just build on what I’ve learned and score some good points, not make any more mistakes this weekend because it’s been a bit of a messy one so far. We’re lucky to be in P6 and in a good position, so let’s try and go for it.”