Bearman’s Spanish GP grid uncertainty resolved after heavy Madring crash

Haas have learned that Oliver Bearman will have to start the Spanish Grand Prix from the pit lane, following a heavy crash in Saturday’s final practice that kept him out of qualifying.

Although he was deemed eligible to start the race by the stewards, team principal Ayao Komatsu was not “100 per cent” certain in the aftermath of qualifying whether Bearman would be starting from the grid or the pit lane.

Oliver Bearman faces Spanish Grand Prix start uncertainty

Putting in a qualifying simulation in the final minutes of FP3, Bearman clipped the barriers with his right-front tyre on the entry to the La Monumental corner, sending his VF-26 into a spin.

He hit the barriers heavily side-on with the left-hand side of the car, causing significant damage to both the front and rear of his VF-26.

Haas had just two hours to repair Bearman’s crash before qualifying, after FP3 ran long as it was temporarily suspended while track staff worked to repair a barrier that Lewis Hamilton had damaged when he crashed earlier in the session.

However, given the severity of the damage, Haas announced that Bearman would “not participate in qualifying as a result of the damage sustained to his VF-26”.

Komatsu wasn’t holding the crash against his British racer.

“Yeah it’s, look, he’s such a fast driver. He’s always on the edge, and he just was wrong side of it unfortunately today, which he doesn’t do very often,” the Haas team principal told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media.

“So, yeah, and then that is we as P7 the championship at this minute is largely thanks to him as well.

“So you can’t just look at this and then blame him.

“When we say that we can do this together, that’s true. So yeah, we come out of it by.

“Just such a shame it happened on the weekend that we were actually reasonably competitive.”

Although Bearman did not set a lap time in qualifying, he has been declared “eligible to start the race” by the FIA stewards.

But confirming that Bearman’s VF-26 had suffered “quite a lot” of damage, including to the “chassis”, Komatsu said Haas was in talks with the FIA about whether his driver could take his place on the grid, or whether he’d have to start from the pit lane.

“This is a discussion actually,” he said. “Even like visiting FIA, it’s not clear on the sporting or technical side.

“So I can’t tell you 100 per cent at this minute.

“We’ve done everything possible to start on the grid. But yeah, we’ll see.”

That has now been resolved.

The FIA’s technical delegate Manuel Leal noted that “car 87 was not covered two hours after chequered flag for Q3, breach of Article B3.4.3 a) and B3.5.3 of the 2026 Formula 1 regulations.

“For that reason car 87 should now be required to start the Race from the pit lane according to Article B3.5.3 a) of the 2026 Formula 1 Regulations.”

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As for Bearman, whether he starts from the grid or the pit lane, the Briton is hoping to put in a redemption drive.

Explaining the crash, Bearman told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media at the Madring: “I just got really caught out by this by this gust of wind in Turn 10, which pushed me out.

“That’s not an excuse. It’s just the facts.”

Revealing that it is his VF-26’s “impact structure which needs to be replaced”, Bearman added: “It hurts more because it’s been on a weekend where the car is competitive. So I can only apologise to the team.”

Bearman, who also has a 10-place grid penalty for taking a fourth of control electronics unit, but that has been nullified by his pit lane start.

“We will make the best out of the situation,” Bearman said. “It’s going to be a tough race starting from the back, but we’ve looked really fast for the weekend, so it’s definitely not over.

“We’ll try and dust ourselves off, and we start again.”

He added: “We’ll do our very best tomorrow to alternate and do something because there’s no doubt that the pace is there, but it will be a tough one.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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