Oliver Bearman hails Haas’ ‘super impressive’ performance in Barcelona shakedown
Oliver Bearman was in a positive mood after Haas' initial testing.
Oliver Bearman highlighted Haas’ ability to put in a number of laps during the Barcelona shakedown as “super impressive” following the regulation changes.
Haas has been one of the pace setters not only in terms of lap time but laps completed so far in Spain with the team completing almost three race distances in one session.
Haas impresses in Barcelona as Bearman calls shakedown ‘super impressive’
Often a regulation change as substantial as 2026 means a disrupted start to the year, especially for some of the smaller constructors, but that has not been the case for Haas so far.
After the end of Day 2 in Spain, only Red Bull had completed more laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya than Haas, highlighting how well prepared the American team was for the start of 2026.
“To be at the shakedown and to be at this test and do a whole day, we completed more than two race distances, closer to three, actually, with no major issues, it’s super, super impressive for our team,” Bearman said.
“Everybody should be really proud of that achievement.
“We’re setting our targets high. We want to continue to learn about this car. I think every lap is a learning experience for us at this stage, but it’s good fun as well.
“It’s my first time being in this situation with a regulation change where, as drivers, we can have so much impact on the end result. So it’s a great prospect.”
As for the rest of the plan, Haas has used two of its three allocated days and even a small issue which, as Bearman described it, hasn’t disrupted it much.
“It’s very early stages in this cycle of regulations, and we’ve had up until now, very clean laps and very clean running,” he said.
“It was impressive to come from Fiorano straight away, do our 200-kilometre limit, and arrive and be out at 9AM two days later here in Barcelona with Esteban [Ocon] this morning.
“Unfortunately, we had a small issue, but that’s what this is all about. We expect to have these issues.
“It’s more everybody is learning the car and the new bits and procedures. So the problem would have taken maybe 30 minutes with last year’s car since everybody knew it so well, it took a lot longer just because there’s a few more intricate details, and there’s just so much more to the power unit compared to what we’ve been used to.”
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