Ollie Bearman, in his debut F1 Singapore GP, got his team a solid P9. Bearman shares his happiness and his relief to finally be back in Q3, highlighting that it’s a reward for the hard work and consistency of the team.
Come back to Q3 after a long time
After 14 races, Ollie Bearman is back on track at Q3. He feels nice since it has been a long time. For the team is also a wonderful day as they had strong qualy that weren’t materialised.
“Yeah, nice to be back. I feel like it’s been a long time coming, you know, we’ve had a few decent qualis that didn’t quite materialise, so this one is really nice, I’m happy to have put together so far a good weekend”.
“Quali went well, every lap the car was feeling better and better, I had good confidence with it, so I’m really happy”.
For Bearman a P9 in his first race at the F1 Singapore GP feels like a lot. He secured a solid ninth place in qualifying, highlighting how tight the field was out on track.
“Yeah, good enough for P9, you know, it’s very tight out there and I think the lap I put together didn’t have a lot left in it. So P9, like I said, the margins are incredibly tight and last year we had the same gap as a team to P1, but this year the field is very close”
“Overall, very happy with that result and hopefully we can consolidate some points”.
Confidence for Saturday Race
The driver believes he can win a few positions, but for Haas the goal is to have a good race with no incidents. For Ollie Bearman the most challenging part of Marina Bay was sector 2.
“Yeah, hopefully I can gain a few positions, but no, I think the goal will be to have a clean race. We’ll see what we can do, how the pace of the car is, and fingers crossed for a good one tomorrow”.
“Definitely sector 2, sector 2 is very tight with the walls and everything, it’s a big challenge”.
Challenging track at the Singapore GP for the first time
Bearman described the track as incredible and very challenging, especially since it was his first time there. He admitted struggling to get up to speed during the initial practice but felt he improved significantly for qualifying.
He was pleased with a clean session and emphasized how special it was to drive the circuit with high downforce, noting that progressing quickly on a difficult track made the experience even more rewarding.
“It’s incredible, it’s a really tough track, it’s obviously my first time here. It’s challenging, it’s a track that I really felt yesterday that I didn’t get up to speed and was struggling to learn it”.
“But today I did a much better job and I’m happy to have done a good qualifying session. Today generally I’ve been doing better driving, but I was expecting that always on day one of learning a track. It’s a bit more difficult, so to have a clean qualy and also just to drive this track with high downforce, it’s very special for me”.
Mental and physically young
Ollie Bearman said he feels physically ready for the race, joking that being young and training hard will help him handle the challenge.
He expects it to be tough, especially mentally, given the demands of a street circuit with tricky airways. He added that strategy will be key, and he hopes the team can execute well for a strong race.
“Physically it will be fine, I’m young, I’m a laffy, I train hard. I don’t think it will be too much of a physical challenge, of course it will be very tough, I’m joking”
“I expect it to be a tough race, also for the mental side, it’s a street track and the airways are difficult. But I think strategically we have to be on it tomorrow as well, because it’s a clear race. The opportunity to make up or lose positions is in the pits, so hopefully we can have a good one and that’s how it is”.
New challenges with a good mindset
The Haas driver explained that he pushed the car to its limits throughout qualifying, starting with his first lap in Q1, then his second in Q2, and finishing with Q3. He acknowledged that the final lap always carries extra pressure, but despite that, he felt he delivered a strong performance.
“My first in Q1, my second in Q2 and my final one in Q3. I felt like I was more or less at the limit of the car and put together laps at the limit of what the car can do. That last lap, it’s always tough to go out in Q3, because the last lap has a bit more pressure on it always”
“Despite that I felt like I did a good one anyway”.
F2 tracks and street races
Ollie Bearman reflected on the challenge of learning a street track for the first time in a while, noting that, unlike other circuits in F2, this one was completely new to him.
After a good night’s rest, he felt more on top of it, and during P3, corners that had been tricky the day before started to click. He highlighted that the session went smoothly, with consistent lap improvements and a car that felt predictable and responsive, making it easier to extract strong lap times.
“And it’s the first time that I’ve had to learn a street track for a while. Because you do all the other ones in F2. But this one you don’t”.
“So definitely a tough one. Today, you know, having slept on it. So coming back, I felt like I was a bit more on it”.
“And straight away from the first lap of P3, some corners that I couldn’t quite figure out yesterday were clicking. Which is normally the case for myself. And then yeah, probably just went well”.
“We had a clean session. Every lap was improving. The car felt good”.
“So when the car feels like that underneath you, it’s easy to get lap time out of it. Because it’s very predictable. And it feels great underneath”.
