Bearman: Haas 'Shouldn't Be Fighting With' Aston Martin After Hungary Q1 Exit

Oliver Bearman says Haas "shouldn't be fighting with" Aston Martin after a painful Q1 exit at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Briton was narrowly denied a spot in Q2 by Fernando Alonso, who squeezed through by just 0.107s, while Bearman also fell 0.223s short of teammate Esteban Ocon for the first time since Monaco.

Why it matters:

Bearman's blunt assessment highlights the volatile state of Haas's 2026 campaign. The team arrived in Hungary encouraged by its showing at Spa, only to suffer a dramatic regression in car balance and overall pace. Meanwhile, Aston Martin's arrival of a comprehensive upgrade package worth over 1.5 seconds per lap has propelled it up the grid. The contrast between a team accelerating development and one fighting to understand its own car has rarely looked starker this season.

The details:

• Tire strategy: Aston Martin committed three new sets of tires to qualifying to secure its first non-sprint Q2 appearance of 2026. Haas ran a tighter allocation, using only two sets for Bearman. While this leaves him with an extra race set for Sunday, it compromised his single-lap pace against Alonso's aggressive approach.
• Lost track time: Bearman did not run in FP1 as reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa took the wheel to satisfy rookie requirements. When Bearman finally drove in FP2, he found a car with poor through-corner balance and a snappy front end that destroyed his confidence, feeling like a return to struggles from two or three races ago.
• Track characteristics: The Hungaroring's tight corners and short straights played into Aston Martin's hands while masking the Honda power unit's lingering deficit. Bearman acknowledged this layout flatters Aston, but stressed it offers no comfort for a Haas team that knows it must raise its game immediately.

What's next:

Haas faces a race against time to cure its car inconsistency before the summer break. Bearman hopes future circuits with longer straights will prove less punishing, though the team cannot rely on track layout alone to fix fundamental balance issues. Aston Martin, meanwhile, carries its momentum toward Zandvoort, where Honda is expected to deliver a long-awaited power unit update that could add even more performance.