Ollie Bearman denied Monaco F1 redemption after "super-strange" crash

Ollie Bearman was caught out by the red flag in Q1 in Monaco after a “super strange” crash in FP3 put the Haas Formula 1 driver on the back foot.

Bearman hit the barrier at Massenet after passing George Russell’s Mercedes, causing heavy damage to the rear of the car.

The team did a great job rebuilding it for qualifying; however, towards the end of the first session, what was potentially Bearman’s best lap was spoiled by a yellow and then red flag after Gabriel Bortoleto put his Audi in the barriers at the Neuvelle Chicane.

After the resumption, there was only time for one lap without optimum preparation, and having struggled with a lack of grip, he had to settle for 19th on the grid.

Referencing his crash, Bearman said: “I just picked up the dust and lost it, it was the strangest crash I’ve ever had. It was so uncharacteristic of the car and everything that had happened that weekend, and suddenly I was facing the wrong way. It was super strange.

“Watching back, I just picked up a bit of dust. I was a bit more on the right, avoiding a car in traffic, and that's just one of the things about Monaco. But the guys did such a good job to get the car back together, and it was feeling great again in quali, so it's a shame.”

Asked by Crash.net if he was disappointed not to be able to reward the Haas crew after the rebuild, he said: “Of course. On the lap that I was on when it went yellow, it was enough easily to be in the top 10 at that stage of quali, which would have easily got us through into Q2.

“I really think we had what it takes to be fighting on the verge of Q3 today, and obviously, qualifying is where it counts. So I'm really sad to be standing here.

“After the red flag, we queued for two and a half minutes. I had to do out-push on a new set of tyres. Consider that for the rest of the weekend we've been doing out-prep, so my tyres were kind of 10 degrees too cold. I was sliding all over the place for the whole lap. Yeah, just not enough grip to put together a lap there at the end, but it's really a shame.”

Expanding on his problems, he said: “Just no grip. I was pushing 110%, giving it everything, because I knew I needed an everything lap to get through. But really, the grip was just nowhere. I was five-tenths down on my best lap into the tunnel. I gave it everything, and it wasn't quite enough.”

Bearman also confirmed that he had cleared the air with team-mate Esteban Ocon after calling him an “idiot” on team radio after they came across each other in Friday’s FP1 session.

“It was a misunderstanding,” he said. “At the start of free practice in Monaco, everyone's kind of backing up in the last sector, and I think Esteban was not clear on what I was doing, and I was not clear on what Esteban was doing.

“So in the heat of the moment, I said something that I regret. Obviously, I don't think what I said, and I apologised to Esteban. It was never an issue. I think we both understand that in the heat of the moment, we say things that we don't necessarily mean.”