(Motorsport-Total.com) – Actually, Oliver Bearman usually had the upper hand over his teammate Esteban Ocon this season, but in qualifying in Budapest (Formula 1 2026 live in ticker), the tables were turned: The Briton was beaten by his teammate for the first time since Monaco and narrowly missed out on Q2 against Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who was 0.107 seconds faster.
Read more Crumbling asphalt causes anger: «Really, really badly done!»
Aston Martin gave everything to reach their first Q2 entry this season, using three sets of new tires, while Bearman only used two. “We only have three, so we didn’t really have another choice,” comments the Haas driver. “But it gives us an extra race set for tomorrow, which should hopefully put us in a good window.”
“But yes, it’s been a tough weekend so far. The Astons ran three sets and that definitely helps them, but we shouldn’t actually be fighting them,” he emphasizes.
Of course, this surprising result is also due to Aston having revised its AMR26 this weekend with an extensive upgrade package that brought a gain of more than 1.5 seconds. In addition, the team benefited from the winding Hungaroring track, as the Honda engine still lacks power before its Zandvoort update.
Read more Lando Norris criticizes Formula 1: Money is more important than the sport!
“It’s really painful,” Bearman continues. “It shows that we are really struggling at the moment. But at the same time, it’s probably the track with the shortest straights. So I don’t think it will stay like this forever, so to speak. But still, it’s a reminder for us that we need to step up.”
Bearman’s problems were further exacerbated by reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa taking over his car in Free Practice 1 to meet the rookie requirements of the regulations. “Friday was completely unproductive for us,” complains the Englishman. “I didn’t drive in FP1, and in FP2, I was looking forward to basically picking up where we left off in Spa.”
“But it felt like we fell back two or three races, where the balance in the corner was really bad,” he grumbles. “I just couldn’t find confidence in the car, couldn’t push, and there was constant sudden oversteer on turn-in. And especially on this track, there’s a huge snowball effect when you have that limitation in car balance.”
Read more How was it with Porsche, Formula 1 and Le Mans, Fritz Enzinger?