Haas are certain Oliver Bearman was wrongly eliminated from the first round of qualifying at Imola when the session was red-flagged.
Bearman completed his final lap in Q1 around the same time Franco Colapinto crashed at Tamburello. The session was red-flagged in response to the Alpine driver’s crash but confusion arose as to whether Bearman had completed his lap before the session was neutralised.
The FOM timing graphics initially showed Bearman’s lap had been registered and moved him up the order, pushing Gabriel Bortoleto into the bottom five ‘drop zone’. The graphics later changed to show Bearman’s lap had not counted and Bortoleto took the final place in Q2 instead of the Haas driver.
The FIA later announced Bearman’s lap was “under review”. However Q2 began without the Haas driver, Bortoleto continuing in the session.
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu is convinced Bearman should have been allowed to continue in the session and wants an explanation from the stewards.
“The wind changed for Q1 so it was difficult, but I felt Ollie reacted very well to that, and to do a lap time like 1’16.077, that’s a very good lap,” he said. “That lap time was deleted however as race control deems that the red flag came out before he crossed the line.
“Our view is different. We have various [pieces of] evidence to back it up, so we’re talking to the stewards about it, but nothing changes this qualifying result. We’d like to understand how they came to that conclusion and are sticking to it.”
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The FIA initially announced Q2 would begin at 4:46pm following the clear-up at Tamburello, then postponed it further to 4:58pm. “Clearly, they were discussing and debating it as the start of Q2 was delayed,” said Komatsu.
“For us, there’s overwhelming evidence to say that his lap time should’ve stood, so that’s our position currently, but with transparency we’d like to talk to the stewards about it.”
Haas have not indicated what evidence they have. However footage from Bearman’s onboard camera appears to show only the red lights indicating the end of the session time were displayed as he crossed the finishing line and the red lights representing the red flag appeared later.
Bearman said he was surprised his lap time was deleted. “From our side, quali went well and I have no clue what happened for me not to be in Q2,” he said.
“I didn’t see a red flag before I [passed] the chequered flag, and the team saw the same from all the views they had, so I don’t know why my lap time wasn’t reinstated.”
RaceFans has approached the FIA for comment.
This article will be updated.
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