Oliver Bearman returned to the points for the first time since the Chinese Grand Prix after securing a top-ten finish in the Canadian Grand Prix, although the young Haas driver was far from fully satisfied with the result.
Starting from 16th on the grid, a points finish looked like a difficult target for the British driver. However, a combination of race attrition and McLaren’s costly strategic gamble — choosing intermediate tyres at the start despite the rain never arriving — helped open the door for Bearman to climb through the field and eventually finish in 10th place.
A point gained, but not total satisfaction
Despite adding a valuable point to Haas’ tally, Oliver Bearman admitted the final result did not entirely reflect the team’s true performance, especially after a slow pit stop on lap 31 cost him valuable time.
“I don’t know if we deserved the points based on our performance, but we’ll gladly take them, considering there have been weekends where we deserved points and came away with nothing,” he said – “In general, it was a really challenging weekend for us, but scoring points is still a positive. We could have achieved more, but we had a slow pit stop, so we need to understand why that happened.
“The track was very slippery and difficult, and I chose to start on used soft tyres because I thought they would help me on the opening lap, but in the end we had three additional formation laps, so I’m not sure I gained much advantage from that choice. I don’t think we’re leaving with huge smiles on our faces, but we have a week before we need to come back stronger in Monaco.”
Brake issues frustrate Esteban Ocon
Even more disappointed was teammate Esteban Ocon, who remains without a points finish this season apart from Suzuka. The French driver started from 17th and crossed the line in 14th after a race compromised by multiple issues, particularly under braking.
“It was tough, to say the least,” Esteban Ocon explained. “There was something not working properly under braking and I kept locking the wheels, so we need to investigate that. We switched to the new car setup after qualifying, so I only had two real laps with it, but as a team we’ll go back, analyse everything, and understand what happened.”
For Haas, the Canadian Grand Prix delivered at least one point, but the team will know there is still significant work to do before heading to Monaco.
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