Oliver Bearman approaches the Monaco Grand Prix with enthusiasm rarely shown this season: he believes the street circuit could offer drivers a more natural experience.
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The new technical regulations have profoundly changed driving in Formula 1, notably due to the increased importance of electric energy recovery and management.
But according to Bearman, Monaco represents a special case.
A rare exception
The principality circuit is made up of many heavy braking zones and has almost no long straights, which greatly reduces the issues encountered elsewhere.
“The cars might be a bit more enjoyable to drive, which would be a good thing,” explained the Brit. “I don’t think there are really many opportunities to play with energy management in Monaco.”
According to him, the limitations imposed by the energy systems will be much less penalizing: “I think it will be much closer to what we knew last year. We will simply be able to drive as we want, use the gears we want, and avoid all those somewhat absurd lift-and-coast phases. Honestly, I am looking forward to this weekend.”
No “straight mode”
This peculiarity is reinforced by the absence of “Straight Mode” zones in Monaco. Due to the short length of the straights, no sector of the circuit meets the criteria allowing the use of this device.
Furthermore, the progressive reduction of electric assistance will start at much lower speeds than on other circuits, around 200 km/h instead of the 290 km/h observed so far. Like many drivers, Bearman knows that qualifying will be decisive in the narrow streets of the Principality.
And he does not hide his ambition: “I hope to do a good lap on Saturday. Otherwise, I might as well park the car and watch the race from a balcony.”
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Gliding over the bumps
Despite his optimism for Monaco, the Haas driver acknowledges that several problems observed in Canada still need to be resolved. In Montreal, Bearman did finish in the points in tenth place, but he believes this result does not fully reflect the real performance level of his car.
“The car was extremely difficult to drive,” he admitted. “I feel there is potential, but we need to calm some of the car’s reactions. There, you have to have confidence when driving just a few centimeters from the walls.”
Bearman also points out that the Monaco circuit has very specific characteristics that accentuate Haas’s difficulties: “Monaco is a very particular circuit with a lot of bumps. It doesn’t seem to match the characteristics of our car.”
A lack of confidence to fix
The Brit hopes that the problems encountered recently in Canada will not be found on smoother circuits: “We need to understand if this mid-corner balance limitation is really a general problem or if it was amplified by Montreal.”
The lack of confidence felt behind the wheel remains his main concern today: “All weekend, I had a lot of trouble finding the confidence needed to attack at corner entry. I felt like I was going to end up in the wall every lap.”
A feeling he will absolutely have to eliminate before heading into the streets of Monte-Carlo, where precision and confidence are often the two essential ingredients for a good result.
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