Back in the top 10
The day after his best-ever Formula 1 qualifying performance, Oliver Bearman finished the Japanese Grand Prix with another points finish, his second in a row. The Haas driver from England, starting from 10th on the grid, defended his 10th place all the way to the chequered flag, taking great satisfaction in scoring among the ‘big names’ at a circuit like Suzuka, which the young Ferrari junior had never raced on before.
A step forward
Starting on medium tyres like most of the field, Oliver Bearman pitted on lap 23 to switch to hards, opting for a different strategy from Esteban Ocon: “I think we got the most out of today,” he commented after the race. “We don’t have enough pace to fight with Williams or Racing Bulls, but I enjoyed my lonely race. Australia was a big shock, and China was an even bigger shock for all of us, given we came back with such high pace without changing anything on the car. This weekend we used a slightly different floor to fix the bouncing we’d been struggling with, and so far it seems to be working well. We’ve taken many positives from this weekend, so we take the point and look ahead to Bahrain.” – the Ferrari Driver Academy member pointed out at the end of the Japanese Grand Prix.
It was not a shared satisfaction for teammate Esteban Ocon, who appeared to struggle during the race just as he had throughout the entire weekend. The Frenchman also finished in the same position he started, staying 18th: “The goal was to hope for a safety car while starting on the hard compound – we didn’t have much to lose by trying that strategy – and we still managed to make a good start. Unfortunately, without a safety car it wasn’t the best strategy and we knew that, we did our best – but it’s more data and more information to compare for the next race. The important thing is that we transferred the good performance we saw on Ollie’s car, so big applause to him and to the team for the updates after Australia.”
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