Haas F1 car has chunk ripped off in FREAK testing incident

Haas F1 driver Ollie Bearman was hit by a freak incident during the final day of testing in Bahrain when a part of his engine cover was ripped off while driving.

Bearman and Esteban Ocon have been putting the VF-25 through its paces across three days of testing in Sakhir.

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Friday (today) is the final day of testing for all teams before the attention solely turns to lights out in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix on March 16.

With each team only allowed to run one car in testing, most have opted to split the morning and afternoon sessions between their driver pairings – with Williams and Red Bull being an exception to that rule.

Haas F1 car has engine cover ripped off

Haas have followed suit with the majority of teams and therefore Ocon might have been gingerly watching on when he saw the VF-25 that he would be driving later that day lose a chunk of bodywork with Bearman behind the wheel.

The freak incident saw a part of the car's engine cover come loose, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the car as it trundled back to the pits.

Thankfully Bearman was unhurt as the car stayed on track, but the 19-year-old was quickly ordered back to the pits to give the team a chance to assess and repair the damage done.

Mechanics sprang into life as the car entered the garage, with team principal Ayao Komatsu even leaving the pit-wall to come and take a look at the issue first-hand.

Haas experienced a similar issue during a team shakedown at Silverstone earlier in the year, as the team look to iron out the issue before the season gets underway. READ MORE: F1 team to run ONE driver in 'Bahrain Grand Prix'

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