Haas is unwilling to let the matter of Oliver Bearman’s elimination from the first round of qualifying at Imola rest.
The team has asked the FIA for further details of the decision-making process which led it to rule Bearman did not complete his final flying lap in Q1 before the session was red-flagged due to a crash at Tamburello.Bearman appeared to have done enough to secure a place in Q2 when he completed his final lap in Q1 yesterday. However the FIA subsequently decided he had not completed the lap before the red flags were waved in response to Franco Colapinto’s crash.
The start of Q2 was delayed as the Colapinto crash scene was cleared and the implications of the red flag were analysed. As Bearman’s lap time was eventually ruled invalid, he no longer merited a place in Q2 and Gabriel Bortoleto took his place.
The FIA subsequently issued an explanation for its decision on Saturday evening. A spokesperson stated “the red flag was set at 16:32.17.6 seconds [and] Bearman crossed the line at 16:32.20.9 seconds with the abort signal / red flag showing on the start gantry.”
However on Sunday morning ahead of the race Haas indicated it still had questions over how the FIA determined the facts of the case.
“After discussions last night with the FIA, we have subsequently asked for further written clarification on the decision-making concerning Ollie Bearman’s final Q1 lap in order for us to review more comprehensively,” said a spokesperson for the team.
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“We similarly asked what measures the FIA / Race Control can put in place moving forward to ensure that this situation is avoided in the future to the benefit of F1.”
Bearman is due to start today’s race from 19th on the grid.
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2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
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James Supercave
18th May 2025, 10:17
Ollie and Haas are acting as if they’ve had a pole lap disqualified and not a Q15 lap. Even if they were P15 or P14, the odds of them scoring at Imola are incredibly remote. They should focus more on squeezing some actual investment out of Gene and less on the P15 that might’ve been.
asz
18th May 2025, 11:48
Something clearly did not work properly in connection with two very important aspects of racing (timing, red flag) and FIA disrespects everyone from teams to fans by admitting no error whatsoever.
Why should it be left at that?
hje
18th May 2025, 12:26
It’s ridiculous. They are an equal competitor to McLaren, and if they have feeling they’ve been treated unfairly, they have every right to appeal. It doesn’t matter whether they’re fighting over P1, or P15. It’s their right as a competitor to get fair treatment.
Not to mention this costed Ollie an appearance in Q2, which he could at least try to use and get into Q3. Ye could pull another great lap and get there. You can’t judge that “he most likely wouldn’t do that anyway, so screw him”.
It’s more about competition being fair.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
18th May 2025, 13:03
Exactly right. So they were potentially hard done by, just move on. They sound like football managers complaining about a wrongly given throw in
PeteB (@peteb)
18th May 2025, 13:32
We still hear regularly about a guy who was potentially hard done by in 2021… Just because Haas are at the back of the grid, it doesn’t make their complaints any less valid.
It should be incredibly easy to clear up! “Here’s the GPS trace – the red flag came out when you were here.” Do that and everyone moves along. This isn’t a subjective thing….
AlanD
18th May 2025, 20:39
Pete: “We still hear regularly about a guy who was potentially hard done by in 2021…”
Yes, we do, but not from the guy himself or the team. They quickly let it go and moved on.
Maybe the race director and stewards made a mistake, maybe they didn’t, but what does Haas expect them to do about it now? Once the next stage of qualifying had started, it is too late to change decisions, and even if it was ambiguous, they couldn’t postpone the qualifying indefinitely whilst the lawyers held a tribunal. They had to make a decision and move on. If, in hindsight, the FIA says we got it wrong, they still cant give Haas a free pass at the next race. So like I said, what are Haas hoping to get out of this?
falken (@falken)
18th May 2025, 11:32
So the context is more important than the rule?
Coventry Climax
18th May 2025, 12:59
Which is your typical FiA.
Axel
18th May 2025, 11:53
Another reason why instead of deleting the time of the driver that causes the red fleg, they should simply add 2 minutes to the session instead. With track evolution it won’t always make up for the lap that might be lost, but it’a better than having situations like this
AlanD
18th May 2025, 20:52
Axel, that’s a good point. I have sometimes felt that if a driver is on a warm up or hot lap when the red flag comes out, if the timing of it means there is insufficient time to restart then those drivers affected should be given two minutes to do one more attempt, but on the same tyres as they were using.
David BR (@david-br)
18th May 2025, 12:29
It just shouldn’t be an issue. Whatever system they use should be able to map the exact time Bearman completed the lap to the exact time the abort/red flag signal was given, *instantly* determining whether he’d qualified for Q2 or not. Where was the issue? The problem wasn’t the fairness of the decision, that was just luck or bad luck for either Bearman or Bortoleto, but how long it took to ‘decide’ when the sport is supposed to be the pinnacle of technology. What was there to analyse?
Coventry Climax
18th May 2025, 13:05
The girls and guys with the flags and the stopwatches, obviously.
But the flags are made of the most advanced synthetics compounds, and the stopwatches are the pinnacle of oldfashioned technology, and leave no carbon footprint whatsoever.
How about waking up, having some talks about what actually is important in a sport and get your priorities right for a change, FiA?
Show equals farce.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th May 2025, 13:18
But “throwing the red flag” means the race director pushes a button that informs all marshalls as well as the timing system nowadays, so it really SHOULD be straightforward to see when that signal was given and compare it to when Bearman got to the line. There might be some delay somewhere in the system but that should only be fractions of a second not lead to a few seconds of unclear information in a sport like F1 where hundreds of a second really matter.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
18th May 2025, 13:57
I think the real issue is that the officials should not go to red flag if racers are finishing and there is no safety issue to let them finish. Double yellows at the crash sector are for safety. A session ending red flag is much different than a mid session red flag.
AlanD
18th May 2025, 20:48
Jim, I agree it seems strange to cancel the laps of drivers who are already past the danger zone and finishing a lap but I can see complications. For instance, suppose the accident is in turn 1, or you are hitting the red glag button because people have spilled onto the track, etc. In the heat of the moment, the officials don’t have time to decide how to instruct drivers whether they mean stop right now or stop after the chequered flag etc. It is unlucky for some drivers but bad luck is an integral part of motorsport. You also wouldn’t want teams protesting that they were half a car’s length past the scene of the accident when the red lights came on so the driver kept his foot in etc.
Alesici
20th May 2025, 17:05
In Indycar practice yesterday, the officials correctly brought out the full course yellow within 2 seconds of Veekay glancing the wall and bending his rear track rod. It was only after the yellow that he finally lost the car, spinning off.
Meanwhile in the pinnacle of motorsport, it appers that there is a 3 second delay between the red flag button being pressed, and the red flag lights actually turning on around the circuit and in the cars. Furthermore, the stewards are blindly attempting to gaslight us by claiming that it is the pressing of the button that counts, not the red flag lights.