Bearman confirms Ferrari's ADUO 2 engine upgrade a minor gain as Haas endures seventh scoreless race

Oliver Bearman has downplayed the impact of Ferrari’s ADUO 2 engine upgrade after Haas finished pointless for the seventh consecutive round at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, equalling the team’s worst scoring drought since its 2021 season.

The upgrade — Ferrari’s second and final power unit development of the 2026 season under the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities system — was fitted to Bearman’s car ahead of the weekend. Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur had already tempered expectations, and Bearman echoed that assessment after qualifying 12th, his best grid position since the Chinese Grand Prix in March.

“It’s a much smaller step than what the [aero] upgrade was, let’s say,” the 21-year-old said. “Of course, there’s a bit more in this track, but in terms of a season average, it wouldn’t have been enough to get us out of the fight for Q1, to be honest, if you put that engine on us in Zandvoort. I don’t think it was a game changer.”

Bearman was more effusive about the team’s aerodynamic work, which included a revamped floor and revised sidepod and engine cover bodywork introduced at Monza. “More power is always nice, but the biggest step was the [aero] upgrade, which was more than twice or three times the amount of power we got from the engine — which is testament to the team’s hard work, and I’m really, really proud of them for that.”

In the race itself, Bearman briefly held eighth place in the opening laps before losing ground to the Alpines and Racing Bulls. Having not pitted under the virtual safety car, he dropped to 15th by the chequered flag.

Teammate Esteban Ocon, who received the new aerodynamic parts but not the updated power unit, qualified seven tenths slower than Bearman in Q2. Ocon attributed the gap largely to the VF-26’s ongoing aero inconsistency rather than the engine difference — an issue he said has affected him at ten of the season’s thirteen grands prix.

“No, it wasn’t [better], unfortunately,” Ocon said when asked after qualifying whether the inconsistency had improved from practice. “We tried everything we could, taking all the bits in the garage to put it on the car. We did everything that we could, but we didn’t get to the bottom of the issue.”

The results leave Haas searching for answers on two fronts: a power unit that offers incremental rather than transformative gains, and an aerodynamic platform that remains unpredictable for at least one of its drivers across the majority of race weekends.