Bearman urged team to warn FIA over Brazilian GP conditions · RaceFans
Formula 1 rookie Oliver Bearman was shocked by the conditions he experienced during Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Haas reserve driver, who made his third grand prix start last weekend, was alarmed by the poor visibility he encountered as heavy rain fell during the race. He gave the team a series of increasingly urgent warnings over the conditions before the Safety Car was sent out due to the heavy rain on lap 30.
“How are we allowed to race like this?” Bearman told race engineer Mark Slade at one point. “Someone is going to crash, big-time.”
“Come on, talk to the the FIA, this is really dangerous,” he added. “I’m trying not to die.”
Bearman wasn’t the only driver to predict a crash would occur. Franco Colapinto lost control of his car during the Safety Car period, which prompted the race to be red-flagged.
Like Bearman, Colapinto is a newcomer to F1: This was his sixth grand prix. Shortly before his crash, when he saw the state of the track as he rejoined following his pit stop on lap 30, he exclaimed “oh my God” on his radio.
But it wasn’t only the less experienced drivers who were surprised racing was allowed to continue as long as it did in such bad weather. Veterans of hundreds of grands prix voiced similar fears.
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During the Safety Car period Carlos Sainz Jnr told his race engineer Riccardo Adami “We cannot race right now. I cannot keep it on-track in Safety Car, and the Safety Car is faster than me.” Later he added: “I cannot even go fast on the straights.”
The Brazilian Grand Prix weekend was heavily disrupted by wet weather. Saturday’s qualifying session was postponed until the following morning and the race start time was unusually brought forward, by an hour and a half, due to forecasts of severe rain during its originally scheduled time slot.
Bearman’s radio messages
Bearman was running 14th as the conditions started to worsen, then gained a place when Sainz ran onto the run-off at Subida do Lado:
| Lap 22/69 | |
| Bearman | If the rain gets heavy, I might struggle to restart on this tyre. |
| Slade | Copy that. |
| Bearman | Sainz went off. |
| Slade | Copy that. |
| Lap 23/69 | |
| Bearman | Tell Nico [Hulkenberg] it’s quite slippery at turn four. People keep going off. |
| Slade | Copy. |
Following a collision with Colapinto earlier in the race, Bearman had to serve a 10-second time penalty, which factored into the team’s decision whether to pit him:
| Lap 25/69 | |
| Bearman | Expecting heavy rain in about five minutes. Hamilton 0.6 behind. |
| Bearman | Yeah are we going to be… do inters, I think, if it’s going to rain? |
| Slade | Affirm. Close with Leclerc on exit, he’s just pitted for new inters. |
| Bearman | I can’t see in my mirrors, I need the gaps behind. |
| Slade | Copy. Car behind is Hamilton. |
| Bearman | I think we should box. |
| Lap 26/69 | |
| Slade | Ollie the problem is if we stop now we could damage your new inters before the heavy rain comes. That’s why we’re questioning what to do. We’ll get back to you shortly. |
| Bearman | I feel like heavy rain’s here. |
| Slade | Yep. Keep at it, mate, keep at it. You’re in good shape, just keep the car on the road. Hamilton one second behind, he’s in the same trouble as you are. So just keep it on the road. Yellow turn one, yellow – double yellow, turn one, double yell- clear, it’s clear. |
| Bearman | You just need to tell me the gaps. Like I said, I can’t see my mirrors. |
| Slade | Copy. Hamilton 0.8 behind. Hamilton still 0.8. |
| Bearman | Yeah, I mean, on every corner I’ve got… |
| Slade | Interrupting Yep sure. |
| Lap 27/69 | |
| Bearman | Getting really slippy. |
| Slade | Understood. |
| Bearman | It’s raining heavy, mate. |
| Slade | Yep, we understand. |
| Bearman | Why not do something? |
| Slade | We want other people to struggle. It’s because of the penalty, it’s because of your penalty, we need to do something different. |
| Slade | Doing a fantastic job. Hamilton 0.7 behind. |
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When the Virtual Safety car was deployed in response to Hulkenberg’s spin, Haas took the opportunity to bring him in. He had a near-miss with Sainz after he rejoined the track:
| Lap 28/69 | |
| Slade | VSC, VSC, VSC. |
| Bearman | What are we doing? |
| Slade | Box, box, box. You have a 10-second penalty. It’ll be a long stop. Wait for instructions from the guys. Do not go before you’re given the signal to go. |
| Slade | Bearman pits Mode RS for the restart. The mechanics wait 10 seconds before touching his car. |
| Slade | Bearman leaves the pits behind Sainz, who he almost runs into at the braking zone for Descida de Lago So still respecting VSC. Mode slow. That’s Sainz just ahead of you. |
| Slade | VSC ending, VSC ending. Mode push, mode push. |
| Lap 29/69 | |
| Bearman | Okay it’s wet now, it’s fucking wet. |
| Slade | Affirm. |
| Bearman | I think it’s okay. |
| Slade | Okay. I believe you’re P14 at the moment. Just try and keep it on the road. Perez right behind you, 0.6 also fresh inters. Actually, Perez on full wets, Perez on full wets. |
As the rain continued to fall, Bearman became increasingly concerned about the conditions:
| Bearman | How are we allowed to race like this? Someone is going to crash, big-time. |
| Slade | Perez coming up fast behind you on his full wets. DC full… |
| Bearman | Mate I can’t even see my steering wheel. |
| Slade | You doing a great job Ollie, you’re doing a great job. |
| Bearman | Yeah but come on, talk to the FIA, this is really dangerous. I’m trying not to die. |
| Slade | Yeah. Yeah, understood. |
| Lap 30/69 | |
| Slade | Suggest EB3 to help stability. |
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The race was finally neutralised, to Bearman’s relief. Like Sainz, Bearman found it hard to reach the pace set by the Safety Car:
| Slade | Safety Car, Safety Car. Safety Car, mode slow. Perez one second ahead of you. |
| Bearman | Thank God. |
| Slade | Next car four seconds behind. |
| Bearman | That was so bad. |
| Slade | You’ve got to race to Safety Car line one. Don’t overtake, don’t overtake, don’t overtake. |
| Bearman | No, no, no. |
| Slade | Stay on your delta, stay on your delta. Okay. Well done, mate. Well done. |
| Lap 31/69 | |
| Slade | Just make sure you respect the delta. |
| Bearman | I am nowhere near it. |
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