Oliver Bearman relishing 'never before' F1 challenge after 'hell' breakthrough

Oliver Bearman has described his excitement at being able to develop an F1 car from scratch for the first time after making a "hell" breakthrough in Barcelona.

The Haas driver logged 106 laps on the final day of the test, to go with the 85 from team-mate Esteban Ocon as the team overcame some reliability woes on Wednesday to end the first test strongly.

For Bearman, 2026 marks the first time in his career he has undergone a regulation change in the formula he is driving, having risen through the spec junior categories before making his full-time debut in the final year of the ground effect design.

Recounting his week, the Ferrari-backed Briton described his excitement at being able to tackle the rule changes after making a sizeable breakthrough in his understanding during the shakedown.

"We had the issues on Wednesday at the end, they weren't big problems, they were all ones we could understand, but they just took a while to fix," Bearman explained.

"Luckily, we were able to get back in the car [on Friday], and have a very clean programme, and I learned a hell of a lot about the car.

"We have so many quality laps now that we have the data, which, compared to Wednesday, was very interrupted and not very high on quality.

"I've got some vast impressions on what I like about the car, what I dislike about the car in terms of its balance.

"It's the biggest change in the history of F1, so it's nice to be involved in that, and to be at the front of that alongside Esteban, leading the way in terms of how we're going to develop the car, and how we're going to change things.

"I've never had that opportunity before. I've gone from spec series in F4, F3, and then F2, and last year, Formula 1 was essentially a carryover of the previous years. There was no change in regulations.

"But this big change is fantastic, and I really feel like, as drivers, we can get stuck in and make a difference."