Ollie Bearman apologises to Haas F1 team after ‘messy’ start to 2025 season

British teenager Ollie Bearman apologised to his Haas team after a torrid first two days of the 2025 F1 season.

The 19-year-old, who impressed last year while deputising for Ferrari and Haas, has endured numerous setbacks at the first race of the season in Australia.

After a heavy crash in the first practice session on Friday, the Chelmsford native then spun his Haas car in the first few minutes of the final practice session on Saturday.

That left him on the back-foot heading into qualifying and due to a gearbox issue, he failed to set a time and will start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid.

“It’s a bit disappointing, of course, to not be able to get a lap on the board, but it’s been a messy weekend so far,” Bearman acknowledged afterwards.

“I haven’t run all weekend. That’s made it tough for the guys to actually understand [what’s happening], as we’ve been running with one car all weekend.

“I can only apologise to the team for that.”

No doubt keen to move on to next week’s race in China, Bearman added ahead of a race expected to be in wet conditions: “I think tomorrow will be interesting, anyway, and we can put it to bed.”

Bearman had, on Friday, explained his heavy crash into the barrier at turn 10 after he slipped into the gravel.

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“I just had a small mistake at Turn 10, which put me a bit wide and out there it’s very bumpy and I, unfortunately, lost the car,” he said.

“The race will be a bit of a roll of the dice it looks like at the moment.”

Bearman’s teammate Esteban Ocon will be alongside him in 19th on the grid.

Lando Norris took pole for the Australian GP, with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri alongside him and Max Verstappen in third.

Lewis Hamilton will start his first race for Ferrari in eighth position.