Ollie Bearman admits surprise after strong 2026 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying
Ollie Bearman admits he ‘was not anticipating to be within the struggle’ for factors in Saturday’s Sprint in China, with the Haas driver set to begin the 19-lap sprint from ninth.
The Briton confirmed constant tempo all through Friday’s (*1*) on the Shanghai International Circuit, having completed seventh within the single, one-hour apply session earlier than then advancing to SQ3.
“We showed really good pace already from lap one of FP1 and we were able to build on that and go forward,” he stated after the session.
“It was a tough session, the balance was a bit on edge and difficult to put the lap together but we got there in the end and happy with P9 today.”
bearman will begin straight behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and admits that factors in Saturday’s Sprint, that are awarded to the highest eight finishers, is a practical purpose.
“On the face of it, I’m quite impressed and surprised by the gap to the leaders,” he added, having completed seventh on the opening spherical in Australia final weekend.
“We appear to have closed it slightly bit in comparison with final week, and actually previous to the weekend, I used to be not anticipating to be within the struggle for the highest eight as a result of we anticipated the 4 groups to be up to now forward.
“At the end, that was not really the case and Red Bull don’t seem to have incredible pace, and it looks like if we get everything right tomorrow we can actually score some points, and then obviously in the race on Sunday, that’s where it gets serious.”
haas group mate Esteban Ocon simply missed out on SQ3 in twelfth, however was left pissed off by the efficiency of his automobile on Friday.
“Not really pleased, we can’t be pleased with that,” he stated. “We are working laborious to clearly get the automobile the place we wish it to be and I believe that was barely higher from FP1 to now.
“I think there are still quite a few things that we need to obviously investigate to get it better for tomorrow. There is potential that we can get it better so we need to try and obviously get the maximum out of it tomorrow and hopefully get on top of our issues.”
