Oliver Bearman's lie-in: Haas recruit reaps benefit of F1 schedule in Baku

And what was one of the perks that he found himself really enjoying on Friday? Being able to have a lie in.

Bearman was only just walking into the paddock for the first time — and dealing with plenty of fans even at a quiet race — just 15 minutes before Formula 2’s practice session got underway at 11am. That would have meant an earlier start had he still been racing for Prema this weekend, but it’s on a race weekend that includes F3 that the F2 drivers really feel it as they go through a briefing that has to be held before F3’s early-morning running due to the crossover in FIA personnel.

So while he has often needed to be at track not long after sunrise and then waiting a number of hours before driving the F2 car, Bearman was enjoying his more relaxed start to each day in the F1 paddock.

The demands are only going to increase, but I’m pretty sure he’ll find a few more positives when it becomes his full-time schedule next year.

 

Aston already seeing the Newey effect

You’d have been hard pushed to miss the news from last Tuesday that Adrian Newey will be joining Aston Martin in 2025, with the move announced to huge fanfare via a press conference at the team’s factory.

Team principal Mike Krack admitted it was a distraction for a day, but that was the only time had anything close to resembling a negative impact with focus immediately turning to the race weekend in Azerbaijan. And there were signs of the positivity that came from the news, as Aston Martin capitalised on an upbeat atmosphere within the team to pick up points courtesy of Fernando Alonso’s sixth place.

It was the drivers that Krack noted a boost from, but also the motivational lift among the team that is excited by the prospect of Newey’s arrival. So excited, in fact, that – as Motor Sport contributor Adam Cooper also pointed out – the LinkedIn page of the team’s chief aerodynamicist Mark Robinson advertised industrial placements with the question: “Who wants to work with Adrian Newey?”

That’s not to say everyone was delighted at the news. Christian Horner suggesting on Friday that his appearance at the announcement event was made “slightly prematurely” given the fact Newey is still under contract at Red Bull.

 

The challenge for the rookies

There was some interesting insight from Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur during a Sunday morning chat in Baku, relating to the job being done by the rookie drivers up to that point of the weekend.

Vasseur admitted he was extremely impressed by the job that Franco Colapinto had done, but as he had more detailed knowledge of Bearman and his potential he was less surprised to see the Ferrari Academy Driver coming so close to Q3 for Haas.

One of the things that Vasseur pointed out as being a serious challenge for the rookie drivers, though, is not driving the car fast, even on such a challenging circuit as Baku. The Frenchman said he had every confidence in Bearman’s ability to be competitive in terms of lap time when he was parachuted into the Ferrari last-minute in Jeddah, but that it was all the procedures that worried him.

Vasseur says it is still underestimated how much drivers are being asked to do and think about when they are behind the wheel, so for a young driver making their first appearance in a car they have so many potential distractions – on top of trying to go wheel-to-wheel with some of the best in the world – that errors are often due to a loss of concentration over two hours rather than a lack of driving skill.

There were no such mistakes during Sunday’s race from Bearman, although his Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu told me afterwards that the rookie had been saving his tyres too much in the first stint and the team should have noticed from Nico Hülkenberg’s car that Bearman could push more. All part of the experience that will stand him in better stead for 2025.

 

Drivers calling for track cleaning

There was a common complaint from the Formula 2 drivers this weekend, and it was one that tallied with their F1 counterparts. As they were first on track on each day – Friday, Saturday and Sunday – the F2 drivers found an extremely dirty track surface.

It was clear from images during the two F2 races that off-line was particularly slippy and challenging, with a lot of debris being kicked up. As small a change as it might be, focusing on cleaning the track would help racing in all categories, as it would provide a greater chance of side-by-side action.

You’ll have noticed the preferred overtaking spot was down the inside into Turn 1, partly because the outside had so little grip – at least early on – and there was a risk of understeering into the barrier.

It’s an investment that should be made given the track is opened to traffic in certain sections each night, potentially leading to more debris. There were plenty of near-misses as the general public tried to take their chance of driving quickly on part of a race track, with the lack of a low speed limit being enforced making for a dangerous few hours each evening.