The F1 Japanese GP extended a positive streak for Ollie Bearman after Haas unlocked surprising pace at the Shanghai International Circuit two weeks ago. The British driver earned back-to-back point finishes with Sunday’s 10th position following his 8th place finish in China.
Ranking 12th in the Drivers’ Championship standings, the British driver feels optimistic about the current pace of the car. After unexpectedly securing his best F1 qualifying result in P10 on Saturday, Bearman scored a point in the race.
Ollie Bearman reflected on an uneventful F1 Japanese GP that ultimately favoured him
Jokingly explaining that he felt “pretty lonely out there and a bit sleepy”, the Brit debriefed on his lack of overtaking opportunities in the print media zone after the race.
He finished 14s behind Alex Albon, and just under 3s ahead of Fernando Alonso.
“I didn’t quite have enough pace to attack, and I wasn’t slow enough to be attacked either.”
Haas’ work in between races paid off
Bearman praised Haas’ work following their challenging start in Australia. He was overall pleased with a good feeling in the over the race.
The team tweaked the floor of the car before the Japanese GP and racing at the high-speed Suzuka circuit. The risk paid off and helped their issues somewhat – though the former F2 driver seemed relatively unfazed by the changes.
“For me we just had a little bit less bouncing in those high-speed corners, which anyway I feel like I’m not super sensitive to, so with or without the floor, I don’t complain that much about bouncing. I’m used to F2, which doesn’t have suspension essentially, so anything’s an upgrade.”
Nonetheless Bearman confirmed that the changes allowed them to “run the car a bit more aggressively and get a bit more performance out of it which is good. And yeah, it seems like it’s working”.
A positive weekend provides the Briton with hope for coming races at familiar tracks
The Haas driver looked back on a mistake-free Japanese GP with relief, hopeful to repeat this success in the coming races.
The 19-year-old driver is enthusiastic about racing at the familiar Sakhir track this Sunday and at the Jeddah Corniche circuit the following one – where he brilliantly stood in for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari in March 2024 with a P7 finish.
Confident on unfamiliar tracks as well, he claimed that “having three or four practices is enough to learn the track for most”.
He concluded with an optimistic outlook on the rest of the triple header, in Bahrain and in Saudi Arabia.
“This weekend I felt really confident to push and lean on it [the VF-25], and if I have that feeling, I hope we can be that competitive in the future races too.”
