{"id":109460,"date":"2025-05-17T16:32:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T16:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/109460\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T16:32:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T16:32:11","slug":"oliver-bearman-slams-fia-for-totally-unfair-imola-gp-qualifying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/109460\/","title":{"rendered":"Oliver Bearman slams FIA for \u201ctotally unfair\u201d Imola GP qualifying"},"content":{"rendered":"

British racer Oliver Bearman<\/a> slammed the FIA after his fastest lap in qualifying for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix was deleted due to a late red flag in the session. The Haas driver says he wasn\u2019t notified of the red flag until \u201cquite a way after I crossed the line\u201d.<\/p>\n

Qualifying for F1\u2019s Imola GP was hit by two red flags in the first session. An initial stoppage came when Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda hit the wall<\/a> and a second red flag fell following a violent crash from newly promoted Alpine driver Franco Colapinto<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Argentine\u2019s crash ended the first session, but Haas driver Bearman was on a fast lap as the red flags flew.<\/p>\n

The British driver claims he wasn\u2019t notified of the red flags until after he crossed the line, which would normally have meant that his lap stood. However, the FIA ruled that the flags fell before Bearman finished the lap, so it wouldn\u2019t count towards the session.<\/p>\n

As such, the Briton qualified 19th ahead of only Tsunoda, who set no time due to his crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get the red light on our dash,\u201d explained Bearman. \u201cThat, for me, didn’t happen until quite a way after I crossed the line. Watching the outboard video, it was clear that there was no red flag displayed when I crossed the line.<\/p>\n

\"Oliver <\/p>\n

Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team<\/p>\n

Photo by: Sam Bloxham \/ Motorsport Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I believe it’s totally unfair to have [the lap] deleted. I feel like once they make a decision, even if it’s wrong \u2013 even if it’s clearly wrong \u2013 they’re not going to turn back on it. And that seems a bit harsh.\u201d<\/p>\n

The call meant that Bearman missed out on a chance to move up the order and, potentially, into Q2 ahead of the Imola GP.<\/p>\n

The Haas team attempted to argue Bearman\u2019s case, which led to an unexpected delay to the start of Q2 in Italy. However, the stewards didn\u2019t back down on their decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, we are last now,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s things like that… we work and we invest so much. We have a new package this weekend, and this has been months and months in the pipeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s the only chance we have to show it. I put in a lap that’s representative and really get the most out of the car, and that’s what we have to show for it. It’s a big shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bearman will now line up 19th for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix tomorrow, with team-mate Esteban Ocon<\/a> next to him in 18th place.<\/p>\n

Head here<\/a> to stay up to speed with the latest F1 Imola Grand Prix news, expert analysis, photos and videos.<\/p>\n

Photos from Imola GP – Practice & Qualifying<\/p>\n

In this article<\/p>\n

Be the first to know and subscribe for real-time news email updates on these topics<\/p>\n

Subscribe to news alerts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British racer Oliver Bearman slammed the FIA after his fastest lap in qualifying for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[37710,4199,45111,707,4200,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-109460","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-emilia-romagna-gp","9":"tag-f1","10":"tag-f1-emilia-romagna-gp","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114524136594138362","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}