Formula 1 is an expensive sport, and Haas’ rookie Oliver Bearman is getting a rough initiation into how much it can burn a hole in the team’s pockets. Despite only a race into the 2025 season, the cumulative damage repair bill across the field has already soared to a whopping $3.9 million.
The season-opening Grand Prix weekend in Melbourne saw seven drivers meet the barriers or damage their cars. And Bearman stands atop the Destructors’ championship with a total repair bill of $1 million thanks to his heavy shunt with the barriers during FP1.
Going into the fast turn 9-10 section at the Albert Park Circuit, Bearman lost control of the rear of his car before making heavy contact with the wall. The right of Bearman’s Haas sustained heavy damage. During the repair work, both the gearbox and power unit were reportedly changed as they had been damaged.
Bearman missed the whole of FP2. And while that was terrible, he had another crash in FP3 that ruled him out of qualifying. The 19-year-old British racer reflected on the “clumsy mistakes”, the big repair bill, and other learnings from his first-ever Grand Prix.
“It was a difficult weekend for sure. I didn’t make my life easy with the mistakes, the clumsy mistakes I made over the weekend,” Bearman told journalists. “But I’m glad that we finished the race — maybe not as competitive as we would have liked, but lots of data gathered and collected.”
Meanwhile, many other drivers were caught out by the tricky conditions at Albert Park. Race day saw the heavens open up and the likes of Isack Hadjar, Jack Doohan, Gabriel Bortoleto, and Liam Lawson were unable to finish the race in treacherous conditions. The Australian GP weekend took out all but one rookie.
Kimi Antonelli was the only newbie to finish the weekend without any damage. The Italian racing prodigy, making his debut for Mercedes, made a brilliant recovery drive to finish fourth after a P16 start. However, it wasn’t just the rookies who had a trial by fire Down Under.
Even the seasoned drivers found it hard to keep their cars on track. Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz Jr. both crashed out of the race while McLaren’s Oscar Piastri had a trip to the grass on lap 44 while running second.
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Piastri’s mistake meant he could only muster a P9 finish at the checkered flag. While the Aussie did not suffer any major damage, Alonso and Sainz’s heavy crashes have put them in the top five of the Destructors’ championship.
Last season, the Williams duo of Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto were in the top three of the Destructors’ championship. Much to James Vowles’ chagrin, Sainz is keeping the trend up as he stands second to Bearman after his crash that reportedly cost $772,000 in damages.
