Oliver Bearman warned that his Haas Formula 1 team could lose out to its rivals if it doesn't speed up its rate of development after he finished 14th and out of the points in Austria.
Bearman had a strong start to his second year in Formula 1, making the most of his Haas VF-26 to pick up points in the first two rounds of the year in Australia and China. However, in the six rounds since, the Briton only managed to add a single point to his tally with 10th in Canada.
As a result, he sits 11th in the drivers' championship while his team languishes in seventh and 23 points behind Racing Bulls.
Now, the Haas driver has warned that his team has lost its competitive edge over fellow midfield runners like Racing Bulls and Alpine as its rivals update and improve their cars at a quicker rate than the American team.
In Austria, the team’s dip was plain to see as Bearman and team-mate Esteban Ocon finished behind both Alpines, both Racing Bulls and even the Audi pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto.
“That's where we are,” Bearman told reporters including Motorsport.com after Sunday’s race. “I think the gaps change depending on the track, depending on the straight's length. Here we were maybe a bit further away, but in Barcelona it was the same. In the race before that in Monaco it was similar.
“That's our pace. Unfortunately, we have some work to do.”
When it came to the tail off in performance compared to its rivals, Bearman said the cause was clearcut and pointed straight to the upgrades brought by other teams.
“They've bought more upgrades, and they've bought more effective upgrades as well,” he said. “So, they've made a big step forward and we haven't. That's it.”
According to the Briton, the team faced a few key issues in Austria that hampered its progress and prevented it from fighting for the points. First, his VF-26 struggled for traction at the start, which he said was a “nightmare” and secondly, the car lacks downforce – which he says is “the main issue that we struggle with”.
“It's downforce in general, of course, but especially at the rear,” Bearman added. “We really struggle on the entry phase of the corner, so we have to run quite low aero balance to survive, let's say.
“On exit [we're] also struggling a lot with the rear, so traction at the start of the race was a nightmare. High speed was a nightmare, corner exits were a nightmare, so it was just really tough to look after the tyres and hold on.”
There could be light at the end of the tunnel for the team, though, as it is yet to run the upgraded Ferrari power unit that was raced by the Scuderia in Austria. What’s more, upgrades from the team are in the works.
“We need to raise the baseline,” acknowledged team boss Ayao Komatsu in a statement shared after the Austrian round. “Which means a faster car, and we’re working on it, so hopefully we can get that performance on the car as quickly as possible.”
