Perhaps too quietly, Haas’ performance in Sakhir went under the radar, as they finished the weekend with two points finishes thanks to Esteban Ocon’s 8th place and Oliver Bearman’s 10th place. It was a result that wasn’t expected ahead of the race, considering that neither driver made it into the top ten in qualifying.
While the British driver ended Q1 in last place, the Frenchman had managed to make it to the next stage, but an incident caused by an error in turn 3 ultimately ruined everything, forcing the former Alpine driver to retire from the session early.
Both drivers made the most of the good pace shown by the VF-25, which managed to effectively control overheating and subsequent tire degradation on the historically aggressive Bahrain asphalt, one of the toughest in the entire season. The mechanics and engineers also did a great job with flawless pit stops and strategy, allowing Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman to stay competitive in the midfield battle.
A big leap in the Constructors’ Championship
This is Haas’ second-best result of the season, after their 14-point haul in China (though that race used the Sprint format). With the 5 points gained in Sakhir, the team led by Ayao Komatsu overtakes Williams and moves into 5th place in the standings, a single point ahead of the British team.
The season is still very long, but this result can only help boost the confidence of the entire team. “I’m very happy for the team because on Saturday I made a mistake and I needed to make up for it,” said Ocon. “Everything worked as expected; we made a great start and managed to adopt an aggressive strategy to be right in the points fight. We are thrilled because this is the maximum we could do, and I’m proud of what we achieved.”
Oliver Bearman echoed him: “It was a great race; in the last 20 laps after the safety car, I was under pressure to keep the 10th place. I’m really happy to have scored a point after a very complicated qualifying, and the team did a fantastic job.”
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