Bearman thrilled to reach SQ3 in Sao Paulo amid last-minute Haas call-up as several surprise names make top 10

Ollie Bearman was delighted to reach the final stages of Sprint Qualifying at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix during another substitute appearance for Haas, with the youngster one of several drivers outside of the leading four teams to qualify in the top 10.
Following the announcement earlier on Friday that Kevin Magnussen would miss Friday’s running at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace due to feeling unwell, it was confirmed that Bearman would stand in for the Dane on Friday – and it has since been announced that he will remain in the car for the full weekend.
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And despite this being another last-minute call-up for the teenager, he quickly impressed by progressing through to SQ3 in Sprint Qualifying, outperforming team mate Nico Hulkenberg in the process after the German exited in SQ2.
While Bearman made a mistake on his flying lap which cost him time – and also resulted in his effort being deleted due to track limits, leaving him without a timed lap on the board – the Briton still qualified in P10 and was thrilled with the result.
“The car was feeling really good all day, honestly,” a smiling Bearman said afterwards. “From the first lap I did in Q1 I had a great feeling. I’m happy to be in SQ3 and finally make it to the third stage of a qualifying session.
“I just did a little mistake in Sector 1, which cost me a lot of time. The rest of the lap was really, really good, so I’m a bit disappointed.”
Reflecting on his preparations for the session – and when he first found out that he would be stepping into the car again – Bearman laughed: “Ayao [Komatsu, Haas Team Principal] woke me up this morning at like 0630 with his call.
“When I saw his name, I wasn’t so mad. If it was my mum or something, not realising the time difference, I would have been a bit more angry!
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“Of course, I give my best to Kevin, because I know he’s feeling bad and he has had a lot of success on this track – he did pole here. But, of course, I’m very happy to jump back in the F1 car and it’s always a pleasure.”
Bearman was not the only driver pleased with his Sprint Qualifying performance in Sao Paulo – it was also a first SQ3 for RB’s Liam Lawson, who will line up in P8 and is now hopeful about his chances of scoring points.
“[I’m] very happy,” the New Zealander commented. “It’s a good step obviously, it’s my first time back into Q3 – I know it’s a Sprint. It’s positive. We made a good step from this morning. The track was really challenging I think for everyone this morning.
“I know that obviously everybody made probably quite a big step, so I’m stoked that what we did worked. I’m really happy and pleased with the work that everyone’s done. Obviously it’s going to be tough tomorrow, but we’ll be pushing for points.
“We’re right on the cusp of [points] there. Honestly, we struggled this morning in the long run, but we were also on a soft. Let’s see. Anything’s possible. We’ll obviously do our best but I’m sure it’s going to be a tough race.”
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Just ahead of him will be Pierre Gasly in seventh for Alpine, marking a continued run of good qualifying performances for the Frenchman.
“I’m delighted,” he reflected. “Third Q3 in a row. SQ3, but… It’s been a very, very strong qualifying. I felt good in the car. I had some good potential, I managed to put the laps [together] one after the other.
“Top of the midfield, so that’s definitely a sign of good improvements over the last few weekends, so I’m very happy. Honestly, it’s probably the best the car [has] felt over the last few races. It was a strong race in Mexico, it does feel like on this track it’s working well as well.
“I don’t want to jinx ourselves, but so far the car has been working well. I’m pretty confident we’re going to be in the battle tomorrow for a few points.”
And also in the lower end of the top 10 is the Wiliams of Alex Albon in P9, who admitted that he was slightly taken aback by the pace of Gasly and Bearman.
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“I was definitely happier on the mediums than on the softs,” the Thai driver remarked. “We need to understand why because obviously tomorrow we’re going to be qualifying on that soft tyre, so we just need to make sure we’re trying a different out-lap. We’re missing grip on that soft tyre.
“The medium, honestly, felt pretty good, so we’ll do our homework, we’ll figure out what fell away from us. The car’s feeling fairly good. I’m really surprised by Ollie’s pace, Pierre’s pace as well has been really strong. I expected the RBs to be quick, but we’ve got our work cut out.
“The car feels okay on race pace – I think our race run was strong. It’s unbelievable degradation here. It’ll make it interesting.”