Oliver Bearman suffered an ignominious start to his full-time F1 career by crashing in opening practice for the Australian Grand Prix. Bearman was a hit last season with a trio of stand-in drives, initially for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari after the Spanish driver required an appendectomy. The 18-year-old then deputised for Kevin Magnussen at Haas on two occasions, initially after the Dane was banned for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and again for the São Paolo Grand Prix after he was taken ill. Handed a full-time seat this season with Haas, Bearman was left red-faced 37 minutes into FP1 at Melbourne's Albert Park. Coming out of the high-speed Turn 10 right-hander, the car squirmed underneath the Briton forcing him onto the gravel. Attempting to keep the car in check, and just as Bearman returned to the track, he lost control, forcing him to hit the brakes, sending him into a spin, and ultimately a wall. Bearman sustained damage to the right-hand side of the car, notably losing the right-rear tyre. At the time of the crash, he was 18th on the timesheet. It sparked the second red flag of the session after gravel had been sprayed across the track at Turn 9 after Alpine's Jack Doohan had skirted the fast kink.
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