Haas rookie Ollie Bearman had every reason to be satisfied with his solid P11 performance in qualifying in Baku on Saturday, yet the young Briton was left frustrated by his session.
Bearman finished 11th in Q2, narrowly missing out on a spot in Q3 by just 0.128 seconds to Williams driver Alex Albon.
However, the 19-year-old had outpaced Haas’ teammate Nico Hulkenberg in the segment – an impressive feat for the young gun in only his second Grand Prix weekend.
But Bearman remained disappointed, believing that his car had the potential to secure a spot among the top ten.
Reflecting on the session, Bearman pinpointed a critical mistake in the castle section of the track, specifically through Turns 11 and 12, which he felt had cost him a chance at making the final round of qualifying.
“It was coming up the castle. I was a bit deep in Turn 11. I had a snap into 12 and I lost enough time to stop me from the final round of qualifying,” Bearman explained.
His frustration following his error was clear in his post-session radio message: "I had a lock-up. Damn it! I'm such an idiot."
However, Bearman believed the groundwork for his disappointment had been laid earlier in the day, during FP3, when he lost control at Turn 1 and collided with the barriers, a mishap that robbed him of precious time on the track and much-needed soft-tyre running ahead of qualifying.
“It definitely put me on the back foot,” Bearman admitted. "I think not in confidence, but for example the mistake I made in qualifying, I’m sure I would have already done this mistake in FP3 and figured out how to not do that, so we just lost a lot of mileage.
"First of all, I didn't account for the track differences, because I basically started from where I left off in FP2, but the track took a step backwards.
“I braked a bit later than I did in FP2 and just went a bit deep. It wasn't a big issue, but when I tried to get out of it, it was so slippery off the line that I didn't manage in time."
Qualifying ahead of Hulkenberg was no consolation for Bearman who remained hard on himself, feeling that he had left potential performance on the table.
"No, because I should have been in Q3," he said. "I'm tough on myself because I know that the car could have done more.
“If I felt like the car was fast enough for P11, then I would be really happy right now, but the car was definitely quick enough to be in Q3, so that's why I'm disappointed.
"I gave the guys a huge job [to repair the car after FP2]. They finished the car like five minutes before we went out, so a huge shout-out to them because they worked tirelessly.
"I'm a bit disappointed just because I feel like I could have been in Q3 if I had gotten those extra two soft-tyre runs in FP3. At this stage of my career those are super valuable."
On the other side of the Haas garage, Hulkenberg acknowledged Bearman's impressive performance, but downplayed being outpaced by his rookie teammate.
“You always want to be faster than your teammate, but I wouldn’t overemphasize that,” commented the Hulk.
“I think Ollie is a [street] course specialist, he’s proven that several times. He was on the pace from lap 1 yesterday, feels comfortable here, has good confidence, does a great job, drives very, very well; very, very cleanly. No question about it.”
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