Bearman praises Ferrari power unit despite small issue during testing

20:01, 29 Jan

bySavannah Lenz

During Haas’s second day of preseason testing, Oliver Bearman praised Ferrari’s ‘impressive’ power unit - despite being hamstrung by a red flag.

Speaking to F1.com, Bearman revealed he had a first taste of the new power unit in Italy and said, “First of all, really happy to be back on track. It was a short winter break, but, in typical racing driver form, after a few days, I was ready to feel some speed again. Fiorano was a good warm-up. It was wet all day, but we got through the plan that we had allocated, and now coming here doing a bit more laps in the dry as well, it's really nice to feel the car underneath me.”

Wednesday was Haas’s second day running after Esteban Ocon completed 151 laps on Monday. Bearman said that the run plan was also what he intended to do. He added, “A lot of mileage is the plan. It's very early stages in this cycle of regulations, and we've had, so far up until now, very clean laps and very clean running.

"It was impressive to come from Fiorano, straight away do our 200km limit, and arrive and be out at 9 am two days later.”

Photo: Haas F1 Team

Unfortunately for the Brition, a red flag disrupted their original plan. “Here in Barcelona with Esteban, this morning, unfortunately, we had a small issue, but that's what this is all about, really." He said. "We expect to have these issues. It's more everybody is learning the car, the new bits and procedures.

“The problem we had, that would have taken maybe 30 minutes with last year's car, since everybody knew it so well, took a lot longer just because there are a few more intricate details, and there's just so much more to the power unit compared to what we've been used to.

“The afternoon will be about getting back out there and finding more about what this car has to offer.”

Bearman shines light on Haas's testing performance

Haas uses Ferrari engines, which have so far seen to be reliable during testing. Bearman finds this impressive, especially given the new regulations.

“First of all, to be out at the shakedown and to be out at this test and do a whole day, we completed more than two race distances, closer to three actually, with no major issues. It's super, super impressive for our team, and I think everybody should be really proud of that achievement.”

“Of course, we're setting our targets high. We want to continue to learn about this car. Every lap is a learning experience for us at this stage. But it's good fun as well. It's my first time being in this situation, with a regulation change. As drivers, we can have so much impact on the end result.”

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