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Haas Formula 1 driver Oliver Bearman has praised Ferrari’s openness and help regarding the optimal operation of its new power unit.
F1 has switched to new engine regulations with much greater emphasis on electrical power, meaning energy management has become a key way to achieve lap time.
Teams need to figure out the ideal timing to deploy energy on the one hand and to lift and coast on the other, which Mercedes seems to have mastered, taking pole position with an eight-tenth margin on Red Bull and Ferrari at the Australian Grand Prix. The closest Mercedes-powered customer car, Oscar Piastri’s McLaren, was 0.862s off.
Williams team boss James Vowles admitted “what Mercedes are doing on the power unit is something that caught us off guard”, while McLaren’s Andrea Stella suggested there may be ‘systemic factors that a customer team can’t control’.
Asked in that context how Haas was looking at Ferrari to try and learn, Bearman replied: “I must say that Ferrari has been incredibly open and incredibly helpful with us in terms of the deployment strategy and giving us as much info as they can to help us. I think it's a different situation that we have with Ferrari relative to McLaren and Mercedes.
“They've been incredibly helpful, but of course there's a bigger difference between our cars. They're almost a session ahead of us in terms of their quali. Their FP3 time was our quali time almost, if that makes sense.” Bearman was the lead Haas driver in qualifying, taking 12th place on the grid, 0.954s away from the faster Ferrari and 0.642s slower than the Scuderia’s FP3 benchmark.
“As the lap time goes up, the demands of energy change a lot,” the Briton continued. “The amount of lift-and-coast, the gear usage, all of these things you have to pre-empt and have a look towards qualifying for. A corner might be flat out for them or a corner might be a lift for them, whereas it's a brake for us or a downshift. Then we need to adjust it in our own way.
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
“Australia, we went in and figured it out as we were going. Now, having done that weekend, we have two or three points. We expect to be slower in these corners, maybe we're geared down in these corners. Also, when you're slower at apexes, obviously you have to deploy more power as well on the exit. It's all a big knock-on effect. That's useful to know and info to bring forward for the future races.”
Asked if Haas knew what the delta was with Ferrari and could adjust, Bearman said: “I think so. We gained info already in Australia. Turn 5 was an example where Ferrari were flat from the beginning, just looking at their GPS speed, whereas for us it wasn't flat until the end of FP2 or even FP3. In terms of strategy, you have to change the way that you approach things. Now, just looking at the track, as an engineering group, we identify some corners where we expect to see some differences, then take that forward into the race. That info is good to have.”
As for the team’s prospects for the Shanghai weekend, Bearman insisted Haas would focus on the main qualifying and race given how likely the top four teams – Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren – were to lock out the eight points-scoring positions in the sprint event.
“The top four teams seem to be in a different race”, the 20-year-old said. “Given a normal weekend or a normal sprint race, that's the top eight. Only the top eight score points. Obviously, it's really important to have a good sprint qualifying and try everything you can for the sprint race, because there's still possibilities, anything could happen like we saw last week. It's going to be important to take the info and focus.
“The priority for us is still going to be the main race because that's the biggest likelihood of scoring points, which is what we need. I would say the info that we've taken forward from Australia has helped. Also, the fact that, to be honest, in Australia we started already in FP1 at 95%. We didn't really have to change too much. It means that I hope we can start on the right foot again here this weekend. Just stress-test the car, stress-test all of the systems in sprint qualifying. Priority one is to have a good main qualifying.”
Photos from Chinese GP - Thursday
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Lars Baron / Getty Images
Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari
Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari
Lars Baron / Getty Images
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Pierre Gasly, Alpine
Pierre Gasly, Alpine
Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi F1 Team
Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi F1 Team
Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Alexandra Leclerc
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Alexandra Leclerc
Jayce Illman / Getty Images
Lando Norris, McLaren
Lando Norris, McLaren
Dom Gibbons / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Nico Hulkenberg, Audi F1 Team
Nico Hulkenberg, Audi F1 Team
Lars Baron / Getty Images
Nico Hulkenberg, Audi F1 Team, Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi F1 Team
Nico Hulkenberg, Audi F1 Team, Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi F1 Team
Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Pierre Gasly, Alpine
Pierre Gasly, Alpine
Dom Gibbons / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing
Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing
Lars Baron / Getty Images
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Alex Bierens de Haan / Getty Images
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls, Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls, Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Dom Gibbons / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Stefano Domenicali, CEO of the Formula One Group
Stefano Domenicali, CEO of the Formula One Group
Lars Baron / Getty Images
Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing
Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing
Mark Thompson / Getty Images
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
Lars Baron / Getty Images
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
Lars Baron / Getty Images
Lando Norris, McLaren
Lando Norris, McLaren
Dom Gibbons / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Pierre Gasly, Alpine
Pierre Gasly, Alpine
Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Franco Colapinto, Alpine
Franco Colapinto, Alpine
Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Sergio Perez, Cadillac Racing, Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing
Sergio Perez, Cadillac Racing, Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing
As Aston Martin’s chief trackside officer Mike Krack welcomed the media in the Shanghai Formula 1 paddock, his tongue-in-cheek opening comment set the tone of the ensuing conversation.
There remained a lot of explaining to do for Krack alongside Honda’s trackside general manager Shintaro Orihara, after Fernando Alonso retired from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix last weekend while Lance Stroll finished 15 laps down and therefore was not classified.
Aston Martin’s issues stem from its new engine partner; crippling vibrations from the internal combustion unit damaged all batteries in testing, while preventing drivers from covering a race distance consecutively as they feared “permanent nerve damage” to their hands, team boss Adrian Newey said.
In the Melbourne race, Alonso had a 13-lap stint followed by a 16-minute break and an eight-lap run; Stroll ran 34 laps in a row, then another nine after spending 18 minutes in the garage.
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
There hasn’t been much turnaround time as the Chinese Grand Prix takes places this weekend, but according to Honda, the situation is improving.
“We have found some progress on the vibration situation, and then still we keep working hard to reduce vibration,” Orihara said. “Still, reliability is our challenging point to improve. So still we are working hard in dialogue with Aston Martin, and then we found something, another countermeasure, so maybe we can try something.
“Also, we have accumulated mileage in the race, so we learned something from the race event for the driveability and also energy management. So we implement that learning into our simulation system.”
Given spares have been an issue, Honda has been restoring the only two batteries that were available in Melbourne.
“We are trying to repair the battery,” Orihara said. “We saw some good progress in terms of repairing. I can't say detail point, but we are keeping working hard to repair the battery. So, maybe we can repair the battery, because that battery issue is not relating to vibration, just small things inside the battery.”
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
However, when asked how many batteries Aston and Honda had at their disposal for the Chinese GP weekend, both Krack and Orihara proved elusive.
“We can't say the exact number, but we keep trying to repair the battery to get more spares. But, sorry, I can't say the number,” the Japanese initially said.
The pair was pressed on whether there were more batteries than in Melbourne, regardless of the exact number; Krack retorted: “I think we should not... What is the point if we go on about the number of batteries? I don't think that this is something that we should try to insist on, insist on and insist on. We have a situation that was disclosed in Melbourne, and I don't think that we should continue on this battery number discussion, if you allow.”
Motorsport understands Honda has three batteries in Shanghai – so one spare.
The duo was then asked how healthy the batteries from Melbourne were; Newey’s comments on finding out about Honda’s tricky staffing situation last November only were also put to them.
“Also, I want to focus to the technical side in this meeting. Is that okay for you?” Orihara simply replied.
As far as the vibrations endured by the drivers are concerned, they haven’t been Honda’s focus, with the manufacturer prioritising its power unit’s actual reliability.
Both drivers have been understandably downbeat, with Stroll claiming the vibrations were like ‘electrocuting yourself on a chair’; compounding their issues is the car’s dire lack of performance. Alonso was two and a half seconds off the pace in Q1; only the Cadillacs were slower.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
However, Krack has been sympathetic to his drivers’ dismay. “You know, it's a difficult situation, obviously,” the Luxembourger said. “Nobody wants to be in that position, but the drivers are part of the team, just like we are, and we are in this together. So we have to try and find ways to work together.
“Sometimes it's more emotional, sometimes it is more constructive, and you have to understand that the drivers are in a unique situation because they have to do what we do all the time here. After every session, they have to answer questions and they have to answer questions that are really difficult to them. And often they do not have a solution or they do not have the right answer to give. So, I think their frustration level is understandably a little bit higher.”
Now, what can Aston Martin aim for this weekend? Is finishing the race a realistic target yet? “Every lap you do is important,” Krack insisted. “When you go racing, that has to be the first target. So, we'll try.
“I think with the steps we have made, with further steps that we are going to try this weekend, it will bring us closer to that, and that will obviously be the target.”
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