Haas driver Oliver Bearman confirmed the problems with inconsistency his team mate referred to have compromised both drivers this year.

The team announced yesterday Esteban Ocon will not remain alongside Bearman next year. Ocon, who has scored fewer points than Bearman so far this year, said his performances were compromised by inconsistencies in their car’s performance at times.

“When the car is working, it helps [you] to get something better,” he said. “When the inconsistencies of the cars are here, where you struggle more, you don’t look as good.”

Bearman admitted the team has suffered from the problem for much of the season. “It’s an issue that we’ve been struggling with, to be honest, all throughout the year and not really understanding why,” he said.

“From one weekend to the next, even one day to the next [and] not changing parts, we can have differences in car performance compared to the other car but also compared to your own car. So it’s really tough, hard to understand why, which is of course why it’s still happening.”

He said the situation began to improve at the Italian Grand Prix. “To be honest, I think the last few events since we bought this latest upgrade in Monza, everything has seemed to calm down a little bit.”

Bearman, who finished ninth behind Ocon at the last round in Baku, said the problem was “a reason for underperformance as a team and across cars.”

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“It’s challenging because you go into the weekend and from the first lap of FP1 you know if it’s going to be a good one or not because you can feel if the car is feeling nice and if it is feeling good then you can perform well,” he explained.

“I had a situation in Baku in FP1, everything felt really poor and I was strapping in for a long weekend, but actually we changed a few parts and everything was performing well and I had a good weekend after that.

“So it’s something that has challenged both of us to an extent and something that as a team we need to improve on because it makes our life challenging because we’re not really sure what we’re working with heading into a weekend. Even heading into FP3, for example, after a decent Friday, sometimes that can fall apart, so it’s challenging.”

In his first full season in F1 last year, Bearman out-scored Ocon by 41 points to 38. Haas has not yet announced who Ocon’s replacement will be but Bearman indicated he expects to be the senior driver in the team next year.

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Bearman said Ocon “has been a great team mate and it’s a shame to see him going.”

“I’ve learnt a lot from him over the year-and-a-half we’ve been together,” he added. “Of course he’s a very quick driver but also the way that he works with the team has been quite interesting for me to see.

“Coming in as an F2 driver, where you’re almost a client of the team and you get told what to do, you step up to F1 and now the team looks to you for inspiration, for motivation, for a direction in terms of development and things like that, which is the first time I’ve been in that situation. So in that sense I learnt a lot from Esteban, that’s been really useful for me.

“There’s no doubt about his speed, he’s shown that on many occasions. So it’s a shame to see but I’m looking forward to coming into a new role within the team as the leader, being the most experienced driver within the team potentially, so in that sense I think it’s a good opportunity for me to continue to learn.”

The 21-year-old, who made his F1 debut at Ferrari as a substitute for Carlos Sainz Jnr in 2024, says he feels ready to step up and become a team leader.

“I think that I’ve come a long way in those two years. My first few races were very, very unique circumstances. But even if I compare to the level that I was performing at last year, I’ve definitely come a long way, especially with how I interact with the team off-track and what I understand about how to get the most out of the guys and developing the car as well. So in that sense, I’m looking forward to this new role.”

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