Haas has praised Oliver Bearman for the "very good job" done by the Ferrari junior on his F1 debut in Friday’s FP1 in Mexico City, commending the young Briton on both his engagement and feedback
Bearman, who currently competes in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, geared up for his official F1 debut with Haas with a day of running at Fiorano two weeks ago onboard a 2021-spec Ferrari SF-21.
The 18-year-old Briton took to the track on Friday at the wheel of Kevin Magnussen’s VF-23 and set the 15th fastest time during the session, three spots and 0.3s behind Nico Hulkenberg.
Bearman was also the fastest of the five young rookies that took part in Friday’s opening practice session.
Overall, Haas’ director of engineering Ayao Komatsu gave the team’s young apprentice a big thumbs up.
"I don't think we can fault him," said Komatsu. "He's done really well, all the way from the very initial preparation he's been very professional, very, very easy to deal with.
"And then every single process I've nothing to complain. And today with a calmness he understood the objectives of every single run.
"He didn't put a foot wrong, really. He didn't maximise the soft lap, the time difference, Nico's lap wasn't great either, so you can't really read too much into it.
"But in terms of his feedback, it was really good engagement with his engineers. Very, very good job. Very impressed.
"Honestly, I can't pick a moment where from all the way through the preparation, something was frustrating or difficult, including his management, it's been a really smooth process, it's been a real pleasure to work with him and his management team."
©Haas
Komatsu said Bearman had clearly exceeded Haas’ expectations.
"I don't think you can expect much better," he added. "And then certainly, better than my expectations as well.
"Not that my expectation was low, but that was so professional. And he didn't put a foot wrong. And the communication and the feedback were really good as well. So really, I've got nothing to complain about. So it was a really impressive FP1."
Bearman, who will enjoy a second outing with Haas at F1’s season finale in Abu Dhabi next month, declared himself happy with his execution, having targeted a clean session as his main priority.
“My first goal was to have a clean session and we did that, so that was the main thing,” he said.
©Haas
"Secondly, I got up to speed quite fast, I had confidence in the car - it was my first time on the soft tires, my first time doing a long run – and I’ll do better the second time, but for my first FP1 I’m happy.
“The thing that surprised me was how much quicker you arrive at Turn 1 on a quali sim, compared to the race.
“The guys have given me pointers throughout, especially because the track is so unique due to the altitude. It was over so fast, but I’m going to be back on the sim preparing for Abu Dhabi.”
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