Oliver Bearman (GBR) Haas F1 Team with Mark Webber (AUS) Channel 4 Presenter / Driver Manager at the Mexican Grand Prix - Photo: Race Pictures

Rookies Bearman and Hadjar share frustrations with tricky Mexico quali

12:01, 26 Oct

0 Comments

byShayni Solanki

Oliver Bearman and Isack Hadjar have expressed their struggles in qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix, with the Haas driver sharing his frustrations with missing FP1 for 'rookie swap-ins.'

Haas driver Bearman and Racing Bulls' Hadjar have embarked on their first full seasons in Formula 1 and have both managed to score points in their debut seasons.

Bearman, however, has opened up on his frustrations in missing sessions this weekend so that rookie drivers can have a go at driving their cars in FP1.

Mexican Grand Prix, Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City, Mexico, Friday 24 October 2025 - Oliver Bearman (GBR) Haas VF-25 - Photo: Race Pictures

"But the facts are that I'm still a rookie, this is my first full season, and I'm still having to give up FP1."

- Oliver Bearman

Bearman was benched for FP1 this weekend so that Ryo Hirakawa could take part in his fourth practice run of the season.

The young British driver partially attributed this to his qualifying result of P10, reminding people that he is a "rookie too."

Bearman told the press after qualifying: "Yeah, it's a tough track and I probably underestimated the fact how important it is to even do FP1.

"So again, it's tough. It's my rookie season, but I'm still having to miss FP1. So it's a bit tough, because in my position I should be able to do FP1 in a weekend like this.

"But the fact is that I have to give it up, so heading into qualifying there were a lot of question marks.

"Actually, on the other hand, the race was something that I was looking forward to a bit more, because we had a really good race pace yesterday.

"We're in Q3 for the third time in a row and the upgrade is definitely what performance is the car which is what we aim for so that's important.

"But the facts are that I'm still a rookie, this is my first full season, and I'm still having to give up FP1, so I shouldn't even be in this situation where I'm having to give up FP1s."

Read also

The situation was similar for Hadjar, who initially struggled in qualifying before he managed to qualify in ninth place behind the championship leader, Oscar Piastri.

Hadjar climbed from his FP1 position of 11th and his FP2 position of 14th to ninth, which he believes made a world of difference.

Hadjar said: "Honestly we made all the right calls yesterday. So that's the most important to me. We really understood what was going on.

"We were slow and now we're pretty fast. So within two sessions to turn the car around is very good.

"Yeah, honestly now, I don't know how many races I'm starting on the wrong side of the grid.

"Because I know my starts are good, but we keep being on the wrong side and it's a long run into Turn 1.

"I mean clearly, I'm not going to lie, the main issues we have with our car are just poor car riding, it's just poor.

"So you have to compromise between how many loads you're giving up and how much compliance you get with your car. In the end, we managed to max out pretty much everything, so very good.

Check out the latest episode of GPblog's 'F1 Paddock Update' here!

Want to stay up-to-date with what happens in the F1 paddock? Then GPblog's F1 Paddock Update video is the perfect way to do it. Subscribe to GPblog's YouTube channel and turn on notifications to never miss the latest episodes.