Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman both believe Haas had the potential to fight for points at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, despite eventually finishing 15th and 14th at Sepang. Both drivers showed encouraging pace during the race, but their respective tyre strategies ultimately prevented the American team from converting that performance into a top-10 result.
A difficult build-up to the Malaysian weekend
After numerous rumours surrounding Esteban Ocon’s future, the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend in Malaysia began with official confirmation that the French driver will leave Haas next season. The announcement preceded a disappointing weekend in terms of results for the American team at Sepang, where Esteban Ocon eventually finished 15th, directly behind team-mate Oliver Bearman.
Esteban Ocon climbs to sixth before Haas strategy unravels
Despite the final result, Esteban Ocon was one of the strongest performers during the opening phase of the race. Having started on Intermediate tyres, the number 31 driver climbed all the way to sixth place.
However, the Safety Car triggered by Valtteri Bottas going off the track prompted Esteban Ocon to return to the pits and switch to slick tyres. From that point onwards, his performance began to decline. His situation was then made worse when the field was bunched up again by a second Safety Car following Alexander Albon’s retirement.
“We had a fantastic start to the race, climbing to sixth position. Of course, we couldn’t stay there, but we were well positioned to score points,” Esteban Ocon explained. “Straight after the stop we started losing ground, so we need to analyse a few things.”
“That’s not how we should have finished the race; I’m sorry for everyone who worked well on the car this weekend, but there were some choices we could have managed differently. Potentially, we could have continued fighting with Racing Bulls – the position where we belonged – but that’s not where we finished.”
Oliver Bearman loses 40 seconds but recovers towards the points
Oliver Bearman followed a different strategy. The British driver started the race on Soft tyres before pitting following Valtteri Bottas’s retirement to switch to the Medium compound.
Forced to recover from the back of the field, Oliver Bearman subsequently made another two pit stops, both times fitting sets of Hard tyres. He eventually crossed the line in 14th place.
“I lost 40 seconds on track, so it was a long afternoon; however, the car was really quick, I was flying and I managed to make up ground, getting to the point where I could see the points positions only 10 seconds ahead,” Oliver Bearman said.
“The positive is that, if we had made the right tyre choice at the start, we could have fought for points.”
Bearman hopes Singapore conditions will suit Haas
Despite the missed opportunity in Malaysia, Oliver Bearman took encouragement from the underlying pace of the Haas and is hopeful that the next race in Singapore will provide a more favourable environment for the car.
“I hope Singapore is a track that suits us better. I think the weather conditions, with slightly lower temperatures, helped us; with it being a night race on a circuit with a smooth surface, I hope those factors can give us a better weekend.”
Haas therefore left Sepang without the points its drivers believed were possible, but with some encouragement from the car’s race pace. For both Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman, the frustration centred less on outright performance and more on the strategic choices that prevented them from turning that speed into a stronger result.
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