Oliver Bearman scores points on Singapore debut: “We had an excellent weekend”. Oliver Bearman impresses on his Singapore GP debut, finishing ninth.

On a track he had never raced on before, British rookie Oliver Bearman finished ninth at the Singapore Grand Prix, despite an early scare from contact with Isack Hadjar.

Bearman shines in Singapore

Scoring points on debut seems to be a special trait of Oliver Bearman, as the Haas driver confirmed in Singapore following his performance in the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. On that occasion, the Ferrari Driver Academy member was promoted by Maranello to replace the unavailable Carlos Sainz, finishing seventh in his first F1 race, albeit on a circuit he had previously raced on, Jeddah.

Last weekend, however, Oliver Bearman debuted on a completely new track in Marina Bay, qualifying ninth and completing all 62 laps of the Singapore GP in the same position. This result brought the British driver back into the points after two races outside the top 10, despite a minor first-lap contact with fellow rookie Isack Hadjar. “I’m really happy,” he commented. “After the incident on the first lap and dropping to tenth, Hülkenberg was very fast behind me. Overall, in my first stint I struggled with the car balance. We made good progress after the pit stops, and with Alonso’s long stop, we could have potentially been in eighth, but unfortunately we lost that position to him because he was faster. I’m happy to have scored points; they are very important, and on a difficult track, we had an excellent weekend.”

Ocon struggles in the back

In the eighteenth round of the championship, Esteban Ocon was unable to score points. Starting 17th, the French driver finished in the same position. “It would have been a tough challenge, but at least we gained a position at the start and recovered a couple in the early laps,” Ocon explained. “At one point we were chasing Lance Stroll and things were improving during the race, but we stayed out on track too long, and when we pitted, we lost everything. We couldn’t recover because of the DRS train in front of us; that was the end of the race. It feels like we missed an opportunity this weekend.”