Esteban Ocon beats Lewis Hamilton pace in second stint despite ninth-place finish | F1 Las Vegas GP. Esteban Ocon finished ninth in Las Vegas ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Ocon: “I was faster than Hamilton in the second stint”

Initially disappointed by finishing outside the points, Esteban Ocon ultimately ended the Las Vegas Grand Prix in ninth place ahead of Oliver Bearman following the dramatic disqualification of the McLarens.

Double top-10 finish for Haas

Securing points in the third and final home race of the season would have been a tough task for Haas, with both drivers starting from the seventh row on the Las Vegas street circuit. That remained the case until the shocking McLaren disqualifications reshuffled the final results, elevating the American team into the top ten.

As in qualifying, Esteban Ocon finished ahead of his teammate with another ninth-place result, the same he achieved in Mexico City. “I think there were a lot of positive aspects today,” Ocon said shortly after the Grand Prix, before the race direction had officially announced the Woking team’s penalty. “We had a good race, but we didn’t have enough pace to score points. We battled with Lewis Hamilton throughout the race, and I thought, ‘What if I had kept him behind longer in the first stint?’ I was much faster in the second stint. It wasn’t enough to catch up by the end; probably we would have needed another five laps. It was a shame, because it feels like a weekend that didn’t reward us, even though there were many positive aspects. Now we move on to the next race.”

Oliver Bearman shines amid chaos

Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman also delivered a solid performance, capitalizing on the chaos at the start to gain positions and finish tenth. This result helped Haas overtake Aston Martin in the Constructors’ Championship, with the American team now seventh, holding a one-point lead over their direct rivals. “The first lap was very good, and we were in a really strong position. Unfortunately, afterward, we had some struggles with pace and I couldn’t find the right rhythm. It was very difficult to drive through the slow corners, and although things improved on the hard tyres, I didn’t adjust the aerodynamic balance as I normally would if I had a good read on the car. I struggled to keep cars behind in the first stint and made mistakes because the car was tricky. In the end, I think the pace was good, but we also experienced a bit of graining in the final stint,” Oliver Bearman explained at the end of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

From the bright lights of Vegas to the desert floodlights of Qatar in less than a week – Haas heads east with momentum, a healthier points tally and two drivers convinced there is more performance still to unlock.