‘Annoyed and Sad’: Bearman blunt on F1’s new energy demands

For Haas charger Oliver Bearman, the transition to F1’s new era has so far left a bitter taste, as the sport’s new energy-heavy formula comes with a frustrating catch – and he isn’t hiding it.

As F1 teams get acquainted with F1’s radically revised power units built around an almost equal split between combustion and electric energy, the emphasis has shifted from flat-out aggression to meticulous energy choreography.

Drivers will still attack, but increasingly they will also be calculating, lifting and feathering the throttle in places where instinct once screamed “full send”. For Bearman, that change has been jarring.

“The annoying thing is definitely the energy management, the clipping and all of these things,” the young Briton recently said, quoted by Motorsport.com.

“It's definitely more than what we've been used to, but that's a given, considering the reliance on electrical as opposed to the previous generation. It’s to be expected but actually feeling it in reality for the first time is a little bit sad. One of those things.”

It’s a rare moment of blunt honesty from a young driver still carving out his place in Formula 1. The irritation is not with the concept of innovation, but with the sensation that speed is now intertwined with restraint.

In an era where electric deployment can suddenly run dry – a phenomenon known as “clipping” – drivers may find themselves lifting off the throttle even on qualifying laps, carefully preserving energy instead of chasing every last kilometre per hour.

Lift, Coast… and Rewire Instinct

The 2026-spec cars introduce a pair of new tactical weapons: Overtake Mode, effectively the spiritual successor to DRS, and Boost Mode, which can be used anywhere on the circuit.

Yet those extra bursts of power come with a trade-off. The energy harvested under braking must be managed intelligently, turning the modern F1 lap into a delicate balance of aggression and conservation.

Bearman’s more experienced team-mate Esteban Ocon, however, sees the adjustment less as a burden and more as a mental recalibration.

“On quali-style runs, we are doing like lift-and-coast and stuff,” the Frenchman commented. “That's a very new thing to do. But, you know, honestly, from the simulator, it took me one run to do it. It's actually quite odd now to not do it.

“It makes sense with the car, because if you stay full throttle, you are basically losing a lot of, you're basically putting the handbrake at the end of the straight, and if you lift and coast, it's not that much.

“So you feel quicker if you lift off. So it feels quite natural because it's the fastest we are driving.

“Obviously, it's very different to normal, but I felt that was quite natural by the end – obviously, in Barcelona, let's see another track.”

Where Bearman feels the sting of restriction, Ocon senses a new rhythm emerging – one where intuition is retrained rather than suppressed.

The lift-and-coast technique, long familiar in race conditions, is now creeping into qualifying, historically the purest expression of unfiltered speed.

Blistering Speed, Reluctant Throttle

Ironically, while drivers may be lifting earlier and coasting more often, the cars themselves are anything but slower. If anything, the raw numbers are climbing into eye-widening territory thanks to lighter drag profiles and potent electric boosts.

Ocon admits the new machines shocked him with their straight-line ferocity.

Asked by what surprised him the most from the Barcelona test, Ocon said: “The way the speed climbs in the straight.

“You know, I never thought I would get to 350km/h that fast. We had an inconsistent deployment in one of the runs that we did, and I had like full deployment into the straight, and I arrived at, I don't know, 355km/h in Turn 1 in Barcelona, so the braking was very different to the laps before.

“The way it climbs and the way you feel, you know, the speed climbing, it's something insane, honestly. It's something I've never felt in Formula 1 or that I've never felt in any cars driving prior to that.

“That was definitely crazy. And the acceleration and the power on exit as well, it's instant, it's much more than I've ever felt. So I think those are the things that surprised me the most.”

Read also:

• ‘Nobody was satisfied’: Komatsu on Ocon’s performance in 2025

The paradox is clear: Formula 1 is building faster cars that sometimes ask drivers to go slower – or at least drive smarter.

For Bearman, the emotional adjustment is still ongoing, the thrill of innovation slightly dulled by the necessity of restraint. For Ocon, the adaptation feels almost logical, even inevitable.

Either way, the upcoming era will test not only engineering brilliance but also a driver’s patience, precision and willingness to unlearn old habits. The future of Formula 1 may be electrifying — but it will also demand a lighter right foot.

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