Chinese Grand Prix: Race Recap

Bearman took the start from P10 on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires and surged up to sixth through the opening lap, but had to take evasive action against Isack Hadjar’s spinning Red Bull, and dropped down the order. Bearman recovered across the opening stint, moving by Max Verstappen, before pitting on lap 10 for White hard tires under a safety car period. Bearman re-emerged in seventh place and passed yet-to-pit Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto to slot into fifth place. Bearman preserved the position across the remainder of the grand prix to collect 10 championship points, continuing his strong start to the new campaign.

Ocon started from P13 on hard tires and moved into the points-paying positions through a frenetic opening lap, and stayed out under the safety car to move into third place. On older and hard tires Ocon relinquished positions but remained firmly in the hunt for points, before pitting on lap 29 for medium tires. Ocon battled Colapinto through the first sequence of corners but unfortunately made contact with the Alpine driver and was issued a 10-second time penalty. Ocon pitted again on lap 48 for Red soft tires, serving his time penalty in the process, and took the checkered flag in 14th place.

TGR Haas F1 Team holds fourth position in the Constructors’ Championship on 17 points.

Up front, Kimi Antonelli claimed his maiden Formula 1 victory, for Mercedes, ahead of team mate George Russell, with Scuderia Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton third. 

Ollie Bearman:

“It was a great race, we couldn’t have asked for more, and I just want to keep pushing like this now. On lap one, I was very unlucky with Hadjar spinning in front of me and I thought our race was over, I was put back to P12 at that time. Luckily, the safety car came out at the right point for us when we needed to have that pace. We took that luck, and the car was very quick today, I’m super happy.”

Esteban Ocon:

"We were on for a very good race, looking at the pace we had on the Hard tire. It's the second race in a row that we've picked up the safety car or virtual safety car at the wrong time while in a points-paying position, so it just didn't go our way today. I made a mistake with Franco and misjudged the gap, but we had some good fights throughout the race until then, so it's a shame that it ended that way."

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal:

"I’m almost speechless, but what an amazing performance and team effort. We’ve always said, in Melbourne as well, keep it simple. We need to focus on our own race and get the best out of it in case something happens in front, and that’s exactly what we did. Ollie was very unlucky with Hadjar, so having that safety car nullified that bad luck, so to speak. I really believe we got that P5 absolutely on merit, and that doesn’t happen overnight. That’s an accumulation of effort from previous years, the parallel development of cars last year, hitting shakedown, and we’re learning every day.  

“Esteban also had a very good race, but he was unlucky in his pit stop, where we had a mistake that put him in a position that he shouldn’t have been in, but without that, he would’ve been in the points as well. Double points would’ve been the icing on the cake, but we’ve shown what’s possible, and that’s what we’re going to aim for in Japan.

“I’m so proud to see the daily improvement this team is making together to understand the car and get the most out of these regulations. I’m so happy we can get these results to be able to give them back to everyone who is pushing like crazy.”