After a tumultuous start, Oliver Bearman managed to recover impressively during the Singapore Grand Prix, securing valuable points for Haas. The young Brit finished ninth and expressed satisfaction afterwards, despite an incident in the first corner. ‘We were hoping for an extra position for a moment, but Fernando Alonso was simply faster today,’ Bearman reflects.
Oliver Bearman qualified ninth in Singapore, while teammate Esteban Ocon only managed to reach P17. However, the race didn’t start well for the young Brit, as he was hit by Isack Hadjar in the first corner. Bearman was forced off his line and fell back to tenth place. “I’m really happy,” said Bearman afterwards. “After the incident in round 1, I fell back to P10 and was immediately under pressure from Nico (Hülkenberg, ed.), who was very fast at the time. In my first stint, I struggled with the balance of the car, but we made a good step after the pit stop.”
At one point, it even seemed like there was more to come than his eventual ninth-place finish. Due to a slow pit stop by Fernando Alonso, Bearman temporarily moved up to eighth place. “We were hoping for an extra position for a moment, but Alonso was simply faster today. It’s a shame we lost that spot, but I’m glad we scored points. On a challenging circuit like Singapore, those are extra important. We had a strong weekend as a team.”
Constructor’s Battle in Full Swing
Haas is currently ninth in the constructor’s championship with 46 points. Last year, the team finished seventh. If the American team doesn’t want to fall further back this season, a significant number of points need to be scored in the last six race weekends. Despite the deficit, things can move quickly in the competitive midfield – as Alpine proved last year in Brazil. The French racing stable jumped from P9 to P6 in the championship with one strong race.
