F1 news: Oliver Bearman ponders what might have been after ‘horrible’ mistake at British GP

After qualifying the eighth for the British Grand Prix, Oliver Bearman was online to start the seventh due to a pronounced grid penalty during the Austrian Formula 1 Grand Prix of last week to his colleague recruit Kimi Antonelli. It put Bearman online for the best starting place for his Formula 1 career.

But the Haas driver will not start there. Instead, he will start the 18th due to an “silly error” which led to a ten -seat gate drop.

During the last hour of practice on Saturday, a Gabriel Bortoleto accident released the red flag. Bearman was on the way back to the stands when he lost control of his VF-25, hitting the wall before stopping. The incident cost Bearman not only to the wing before his challenger, but also to what would have been the best place of departure of his career.

The racing commissioners found that Bearman “did not slowly return to the lane of the stands” under the red flag, and evaluated not only the drop in the grid to ten places, but added four penalty points to his super FIA license.

Speak with Sky Sports F1 After the session, Bearman noted that he had only himself to blame.

“It sucks. Honestly, it’s horrible, but I can only blame myself. It was my fault and a very stupid error this morning,” said the Haas recruit.

“We were taking a very slow tour during the red flag, then entering the entrance to the stand with tires and very cold brakes, I did not really hold that,” said Bearman during the incident in the final training.

“Just a silly and stupid error because when I hit the brakes, they were frozen, just like the tires and I lost it. Idress and kick me. I would like to be able to go back and change it, but we cannot learn from it and I hope we can have a good race.”

You can see the incident in question here:

Despite the incident and the penalty, Bearman was able to find the silver lining in Silverstone.

“On the other hand, I am really happy that we had a good qualification. First, to validate the hard work of the team because we brought an upgrade this weekend and we were in the third trimester to merit, so it’s great,” said Bearman.

“Qualifications have been our weak point for the last two events and now in the third quarter on a track where there is a lot of speeds, which was not our strongest characteristic, is a great feeling.

“I know I’m going to start last tomorrow but I will see what I can do.”