Haas “shouldn’t be fighting with” Aston Martin

Oliver Bearman has said Haas “shouldn’t be fighting with” Aston Martin and explained his Q1 exit at Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

As the American team rues its car’s inconsistency, this time it was Esteban Ocon happy and Bearman distraught following qualifying at the Hungaroring. The Briton was outqualified by his team-mate for the first time since Monaco, with a 0.223s gap, and was narrowly beaten to Q2 by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who went 0.107s quicker.

Aston gave it all to reach this milestone – its first Q2 appearance in a non-sprint qualifying session in 2026 – and used three sets of new tyres to Bearman’s two.

“We only have three, so we didn't really have much other choice,” the Haas driver commented. “But it gives us another race set for tomorrow, so that should hopefully put us in a good window.

“But yeah, it's been a tough weekend so far. The Astons did three sets and that definitely helps them, but we shouldn't be fighting with them.”

Of course, this surprising outcome is also down to Aston overhauling its AMR26 with a comprehensive upgrade package this weekend, which provided a gain of more than 1.5s. It also benefitted from the winding Hungaroring track, with the Honda power unit still lacking power ahead of its Zandvoort update.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing (Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images)

“It's really painful,” Bearman continued. “It shows that we're really fighting and struggling at the moment. But, at the same time, it's probably the track that's used the most with the shortest straights. So I don't think it will remain like that, let's say, forever. But still, it's a reminder for us that we need to up our game.”

Bearman’s issues were compounded by the fact that reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa took over his car in the opening practice session in order to satisfy the regulations’ rookie requirements.

“Friday was totally unproductive for us,” the Englishman lamented. “I didn't run in FP1 and then in FP2, I was looking forward to continuing where we left off really in Spa.

“But really, I felt like we went back to two or three races ago where the through-corner balance was really poor. Just couldn't find any confidence with the car, couldn't push it, snapping all the time on entry. And especially on this track, it's a huge snowball effect when you have that car balance limitation.”