– At the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix, Oliver Bearman delivered one of the best performances of the race. The young Briton drove his Haas to a strong fifth place – and was once again “Best of the Rest” behind the top teams. Already at the season opener in Australia, Bearman had shone as the best driver outside the top teams.
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“It was a great race, a fantastic race,” Bearman said afterwards on Sky. “I had to go off track at the beginning to avoid a crash, and I thought to myself then: This is going to be a long day.”
Safety Car helps – but the speed is right
The start of the race was anything but ideal for Bearman. Due to the evasive maneuver in the first lap with Isack Hadjar, he initially lost valuable positions. “Fortunately, the Safety Car came at the right time,” explains the Haas driver. “But we still had to have the pace.”
The VF-26 apparently had exactly that pace. “The car was really fast today,” said Bearman. “We were flying.” Meanwhile, several battles for position raged ahead of him between the top drivers. Bearman kept a particularly close eye on the duel between the Ferrari drivers and the attacks from George Russell – even though he knew that intervening was hardly realistic.
“I watched it a bit,” he reveals. “They were often side-by-side and fought a lot. But they were significantly faster – I would have had to hope for a miracle there.”
Haas stronger in the race than in qualifying
The fact that Bearman was able to keep an eye on the pace of the leading group, at least at times, he sees as a sign of a clear strength of his car. “In race trim, we are faster at the moment,” explains the Briton. “In qualifying, it was a bit more difficult.”
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Despite the strong result, Bearman still sees room for improvement. Especially towards the end of the race, it got close again: a competitor put him under massive pressure in the final laps. “Pierre was incredibly fast this weekend,” Bearman says of Alpine driver Pierre Gasly.
“Even in the race, he came towards me incredibly fast in the last ten laps.” Nevertheless, Bearman defended his position confidently. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us before the next race,” he says. “But I’m really happy with the balance and the feeling in the car. That’s a great basis.”
Frustration for Ocon after Safety Car bad luck
The race went less happily for teammate Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman fell out of the points after an unfortunate strategy and a Safety Car at the wrong time. “Unfortunately, that’s the reason why we ended up where we are now today,” Ocon explains. “We fell out of the points.”
Particularly bitter: it was already the second race in a row in which the timing worked against him. “Two races in a row we get the Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car at the wrong time,” Ocon complains. “That was already the case in Australia and now here again. At the moment, things just aren’t going our way.”
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In addition, there was a collision with Franco Colapinto, which finally ruined his chances.
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