Haas make Bearman call ahead of latest F1 outing

Haas is hoping Oliie Bearman will again hit the ground running when he returns to the VF-24 ahead of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.

Bearman will replace Nico Hulkenberg in first practice at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, the second of his six planned FP1 outings this year with the team, after stepping into the cockpit for Kevin Magnussen at the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola in May.

After making his grand prix debut for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia earlier this year after Carlos Sainz contracted appendicitis, the 19-year-old Bearman performed admirably in Italy, completing 23 laps and finishing with the 15th-quickest time.

Confirming Bearman's role this weekend and what is expected, team principal Ayao Komatsu said: "We have Bearman joining us again for FP1, this time in place of Nico, so he can continue from where he left off in Imola."

Komatsu has also confirmed that the Spanish Grand Prix will be the first proper opportunity to fully assess its upgrade package in high-speed corners.

Haas brought significant updates to the car in China, and has added to them thereafter, but has had to wait until now to run the rule over them in true high speed given the nature of the tracks that followed the Shanghai International Circuit.

Haas needs to operate 'at its best'

Crucially for Komatsu, he now wants to see the team perform at a level he expects, which fell below the accepted standards in the last two races in Monaco and Canada.

In Monaco, a technical infringement related to particular measurements of the rear wing resulted in Hulkenberg and Magnussen being disqualified from qualifying, leading to a back-row start from where the Dane collided with Red Bull's Sergio Perez on the run up the hill, destroying both cars. Hulkenberg was an unfortunate casualty in the incident and also retired.

In Canada, the team gambled on its wet-weather strategy early in the race, which ultimately backfired, leading to Hulkenberg and Magnussen finishing just outside the points in 11th and 12th.

Looking ahead to what he wants to see from this team this weekend, which kickstarts a triple-header, with races in Austria and Great Britain to follow, Komatsu said: "A triple-header is always pretty tough.

"Thankfully a lot of our team is UK-based so it helps that the last race of this triple is in the UK, but it is still very hard. It’s getting to that point of the season where everybody’s feeling it.

"So it’s very important that we look after ourselves to be able to perform at our best, to be efficient and focused, especially on the back of two events where our trackside operations weren’t the best. 

"We can’t let that happen, so we need to look at ourselves and see how we can operate at our best.”