Oliver Bearman said he had mixed feelings after a penalty cost him the best starting position of his career.

The stewards announced before qualifying began that Bearman had received a 10-place grid drop penalty for failing to obey a red flag during final practice. Bearman crashed on his way into the pit lane after the session was suspended and the stewards noted he had not reduced his speed sufficiently earlier in the lap.

“Just a misjudgement from my side, really,” said Bearman. “I didn’t account for the cold brakes and tyres,” he added. “So a silly error, one that shouldn’t have happened at this level.”

He was the only Haas driver to reach Q3. He ended the session eighth before his penalty was applied.

With Andrea Kimi Antonelli already facing a three-place grid drop before the weekend began, Bearman would have started on the fourth row of the grid without his penalty. Instead he will line up 18th.

He said his feelings were “mixed, for sure.”

“On one hand we brought an upgrade this weekend and clearly it’s showing potential because qualifying pace has not been fantastic recently and now to be in Q3 on merit is a good feeling. I only [used] one new set of tyres in Q2, as well, which normally only the top teams do.

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“So we actually had a very, very strong qualifying and the car was feeling great, the best it’s ever felt for me. Then of course I’m really disappointed in myself because I’ve let my team down.”

He said he didn’t feel any relief at qualifying well despite his penalty. “I’m still angry at myself and very sad.

“But I’m glad at least that we could show that the good thing today was we have a quick car in qualifying trim, which hasn’t been the case more recently. So I’m really proud of the team for bringing a successful upgrade.”

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