Oliver Bearman 'angry' as rookie error ruins stellar British GP qualifying show
Oliver Bearman admitted a rookie error deprived Silverstone fans from having four British home heroes starting the British Grand Prix in the top 10. The 20-year-old qualified eighth in his Haas but will start near the back because of a 10-place grid penalty.
The stewards threw the book at him after speeding up in final practice when the session was red-flagged and crashed in the pit entry, ripping the front off his Haas. Data showed he was travelling at 161mph despite the session being stopped and the Brit admitted he had no-one to blame but himself.
Bearman said: "It was a silly error and one that shouldn't happen at this level. It was just a misjudgement from my side." He went into qualifying with that punishment already confirmed and so he ended his day with "mixed feelings".
He said: "To be in Q3 on merit is a good feeling. We actually had a very strong qualifying and the car was feeling great, the best it has ever felt. For me, then of course I'm really disappointed in myself because I've let the team down today.
"I'm angry at myself, very sad. I'm glad we could at least show today that we have a quick car in qualifying trim, which hasn't been the case recently, so I'm really proud of the team for bringing a successful upgrade."
Bearman started the season strongly with three top-10 finishes in the first four races. But Haas have gone off the boil after a strong start and their rookie hasn't scored a point since mid-April. After 11th-placed finishes in his last two outings, he hopes to end his barren run in his first ever F1 home race.
READ MORE: Max Verstappen denies Brits at Silverstone as Lewis Hamilton misses out on pole
And the Essex-raised Ferrari academy driver still fancies his chances despite starting 18th on the grid. He said: "If we're P8 in qualifying then that means we've got a very quick race car, because normally our qualifying car is not as good as our race car, so hopefully that stays."
London-born Thai Alex Albon starts 13th and criticised his Williams team for an opportunity missed. He fumed: "We need to discuss it internally because we didn't do the right things at the right time. We wasted a set of tyres when Franco crashed and we went out even though it was quite clear it was going to be a red flag. So we ended up damaging a set of tyres.
'And when the wind is so sensitive like it is today you just need consistency with the car. There is quite a big difference between a new set and a used set around here. There is normally a half a second drop off.
"So we ended up wasting a set of tyres, putting an old set of Q2 run one and a new one for Q2 run two. As you expected it was a different car. A little bit unnecessary what we did, actually. We could have optimised the strategy a lot better. We should not be here. We should be in Q3 quite comfortably."
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