Bearman relieved ‘horrible three weeks’ for Haas are over

Ollie Bearman finished 17th in Sao Paulo last Sunday and afterwards cut a despondent figure as he revealed how pleased he was to be heading home after a tough triple header.

Bearman failed to finish the races in Austin and Mexico City, while his Sao Paulo Grand Prix unravelled thanks to some slow pit stops that dropped him from the fringes of the points to towards the back of the field.

Having put in a superb lap in the wet to qualify in the top 10, nothing in the Grand Prix quite went to plan for the Haas man, starting with early contact with Fernando Alonso that sent both drivers wide after a handful of corners.

“I had a bit of a moment at the start but nothing major, I lost a few places at the start but managed to gain back a few again, so was net zero,” he explained. “After that I just had some very slow pit stops and I couldn’t fight with that.”

That pit stop dropped him from P10 to P17 on a day where points felt possible, with the rain causing havoc and plenty of strategic dilemmas to contend with. Anyone who got those strategy calls right could have climbed up the order – as shown by Nico Hulkenberg managing to finish P10 despite serving a 10-second time penalty.

“I just want to go home and reset. It has been a horrible three weeks, we have missed two opportunities to score points, and we just need to move on and do better,” Bearman concluded.

His triple header started with problems in Austin when he made contact with Pierre Gasly when fighting for position. That earned him a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision, which combined with the resultant damage forced his retirement.

“I sent one up the inside, and to be honest, he saw me as he left space but to me, it didn’t feel enough. He gave space, but only half a car's worth, and I was committed, so we made a bit of contact – I picked up a huge amount of damage on my car, and I probably damaged his car as well,” was what Bearman said at the time.

"It was a shame as I felt like I was massively penalised anyway, as the damage ruined my race, and on top of that I picked up the penalty. In my view, it was a racing incident.”

Worse was to come in Mexico City, when he was hit from behind by Hulkenberg, forcing another retirement with damage.

On a day where so many post-race penalties were handed out, Bearman lost the opportunity to score – with his stand-in team mate Ryo Hirakawa promoted to P10 from his 13th place finish.

“I just got smashed off. I was turning into Turn 4, and the next thing I knew, I was looking at everyone else coming past me, facing the wrong way,” Bearman said of the moment.

“It was a good race to be honest, I had great pace, and we were in the fight for points, and I was in the points when I was taken out. It happens, it just sucks.”

As a result of all that, it is easy to see why Bearman is keen to go home, with Haas scoring just the one point in the last three-race run, while rivals Audi managed to pick up five points to close the gap in the standings in the fight for seventh.

Haas remain in front, but only by three points with three rounds remaining.