Oliver Bearman reveals loose wheel after first pit stop in F1 Imola GP which was not investigated, as Fernando Alonso expands on radio frustration.
After what transpired on Saturday, Haas’ Bearman started F1 Imola GP from last and made steady progress to find himself around the points position at one point. He had Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda – who finished P10 in the end – at bay for most part on similar strategy to him.
But his race turned for the worse under Virtual Safety Car period when he pitted to switch onto the medium tyres. All looked fine for couple of laps as he ran just outside the points under VSC. But not long after re-start, he got onto the radio to complain about vibrations from the tyres.
He immediately pointed towards the front right and even before getting the confirmation from his race engineer, he dived into the pits. The onboard showed problem on his front right as the mechanics tried to understand if the wheel gun was a problem. They got the hard tyre in but took it out immediately.
After checking the wheel and also the hard tyre’s rims, the mechanics tried to put the tyre again. It worked this time, as he left the pitlane to drop one lap behind the leaders. A safety car allowed him to unlap, but there was nothing more he could have done to finish far back in the order.
Interestingly, there was no investigation undertaken for an unsafe release considering it was a blatant case of lose wheel. “I don’t know, everyone thinks that I had a shit race but actually it was going pretty well, I just had pit on the medium after one lap because the wheel wasn’t attached,” Bearman said to media.
“I felt something weird and when we got to racing speed, then it was clear straightaway and luckily I kept it out [of everyone]. I came out of the pits behind Russell, he was P7, I was much quicker than Tsunoda and we were on the same strategy and he was in the points, so we were on for a good result, unfortunately we had an issue in the pit stop which then I had to another one and that’s not the fastest way,” summed up Bearman.
The radio conversation before and after the situation goes –
Bearman: “I feel some vibrations, I think my front right-wheel is not connected.”
Race engineer (as he entered the pits): “Copy, Ollie. We are checking.”
Bearman: “Box for hard. Box for hard.”
“The front right. We need [to go to] hard.”
Race engineer (after the stop): “Okay Ollie, how’s the car?”
Bearman: “Fine now.”
The scenario happened at a time when Haas is seeking clarification for what transpired on Saturday when Bearman’s lap was deleted due to red flag which halted his progress to Q2. The FIA noted that the red flag was waved at 16:32.17.6s and Bearman crossed the line at 16:32.20.9s.
On Sunday, Haas asked for a written communication about the same the steps going forward. “After discussions last night with the FIA, we have subsequently asked for further written clarification on the decision-making concerning Ollie Bearman’s final Q1 lap in order for us to review more comprehensively,” it said.
“We similarly asked what measures the FIA / Race Control can put in place moving forward to ensure that this situation is avoided in the future to the benefit of F1.” When asked about his feeling after the race, Bearman simply said: “No, I don’t want to comment more on it but its really a mess how it is handled.”
It was not the weekend for Haas on the whole after teammate Esteban Ocon was forced to retire due to air consumption issue. Much like the American outfit, the Aston Martin pair was left for more in the end. After running well in the points, both Alonso and Lance Stroll finished outside it.
The VSC didn’t help them after they elected to stay out. The safety car did as Alonso raced to 11th but he fell short by only just as he was unable to clear Tsunoda. The Spaniard at one point rued his luck and termed the situation as torture after luck didn’t go in their favour.
“The car was very strong today,” said Alonso to media. “We started strong and then I could follow Norris and Russell. Actually, Russell was a little bit slower than both of us, so I have to pinch myself that I was in the front part of the field and that competitive. Then we did a stop.
“We were okay, I think, to secure P6/7 today with both cards, and then the Virtual Safety Car obviously gave the opportunity to stop for free for the people that didn’t at that point. They left the pits just in front of us, already with newer tyres, and the race was over. I think in 100 scenarios of the race, 99 were okay for us to score strong points for the team today. One was not, and it did happen.
“Let’s hope for other races that maybe we don’t deserve the points and we do score because of luck. Today, I think it’s a little bit unfair. The whole season has been incredible if you look back Australia, I felt strong, I had fire in the brakes when I was P11 at the start, there was three cars disqualified back then.
“In Miami, we didn’t stop for dry tyres, today we have finally a strong car that can score points on merit for the first time and then there’s this Virtual Safety Car, no Virtual Safety Car when we were P12 or P13 in all the seven races. And in general, as you know my career has been on the bad part, people that have a very average weekend, they finish in Top 5, so yeah, unlucky.
“In terms of strategy, I was out of the points so it’s difficult to really make decisions at that time. Even at the end, I think the car was super strong because in nine laps, I over took three cars; Nico, Lawson, Gasly. Our normal midfield group, they were very slow compared to us today, which is a very good sign for us, but with no points,” summed up Alonso.
Here’s what FIA said on Saturday
Here’s how F1 Imola GP panned out
