Bearman reaches Q2 in Barcelona despite driving the 'worst car of his life' in FP3

Oliver Bearman salvaged a 15th-place grid slot for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya after overnight setup changes turned his Haas VF-26 into what he described as the worst Formula 1 car he has ever driven during Saturday morning’s final practice session.

The 21-year-old Briton finished FP3 in 17th, fearing an early Q1 exit once qualifying began. Instead, Bearman completed nine laps in the opening segment — joint-most of any driver — to come through in 11th place and advance to Q2, where he ultimately reached the limit of what the car could offer.

“This morning, I don’t know what we did to the car, but it was the worst car I’ve ever driven in my life — it was terrible,” Bearman said. “So, we were all going into Q1 absolutely blind. Honestly, I was expecting to be out. If I had the car I had in FP3, I would have probably crashed.”

Bearman described the VF-26 as “unpredictable and horrible” in those conditions, attributing the dramatic swing in behaviour to the car’s exceptionally narrow setup window. Once the team reverted closer to their baseline, performance returned — but not enough to challenge further up the grid.

“We put it back in that small knife-edge window, and the performance is better, but we’re still missing,” he added. “We found out a lot of new things about this car this weekend, and honestly, I was expecting slightly more performance.”

The result is Bearman’s best qualifying performance since Miami, where he started 13th and finished 11th. He identified corner speed as Haas’s primary one-lap weakness, though he expressed more confidence in the team’s race pace after placing seventh in the FP2 long-run averages.

With team-mate Esteban Ocon starting 17th, a third consecutive points finish looks difficult for Haas, who sit seventh in the Constructors’ Championship. Bearman, however, is not ruling out a strong Sunday.

“I don’t think we’re going to fight for the points on merit, but we’ve seen how much chaos can happen,” he said. “So we’re going to be in it, and hopefully fighting for the best position possible.”