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November 5, 2025 · 3:10 pm

How a charging Haas F1 team has made the right calls on and off the track

Haas has moved up from P9 to P8 and has bigger ambitions over the last four races

For the Haas Formula 1 team the Mexican GP saw a dream result, with Ollie Bearman’s fourth place and ninth for Esteban Ocon allowing it to jump Sauber for eighth in the World Championship.

The focus is now firmly ahead, with Aston Martin and Racing Bulls both within a 10 point range.

Mexico was just reward for a well-executed weekend, with Bearman obviously doing a brilliant job in the cockpit and the team making a smart strategy call that ultimately paid off.

It also came in the wake of the decision to introduce an upgrade package at the US GP that only has a life of six race weekends in order to provide a late season boost in the constructors’ battle. That already paid off on its debut in Austin with a ninth place for Bearman, and Mexico brought more vindication.

“We’re definitely happy,” team boss Ayao Komatsu told this writer. “Without the upgrade, I don’t think we could have had the Austin result, I don’t think we could have had this result.

“So it’s already proven that regardless of championship position, because like I keep saying, a result is a result, you cannot 100% control that. Let’s face it, we moved up one position, but they [Sauber] are only two points behind. It’s nothing, absolutely nothing.

“All I’m trying to say is we’ve just got to try the get the best out of the car and drive and execute every single race weekend. If we do that, I’m sure we can move up. But there’s just no point counting the points.”

The team now has its sights set on getting ahead of both Aston Martin and Racing Bulls over the course of these last four race weekends.

“Even before I said P6 is possible,” said Komatsu. “But again, it’s just no point thinking like that. A 22 points gap with six races remaining – of course, it was possible, but there’s no point thinking, how are we going to get 23 points? It may not happen. But that’s out of our control, right?

“That we suddenly got 14 points, great, it’s now 10 points to P6. But again, it’s not about how are we going to get 10 points? It’s more about how are we going to start Brazil FP1? Make sure we get the sprint quali right.

“If we do everything right, we can score points in the sprint. And then that puts us another step ahead for main quali and race. So I think it’s very important for us to focus what’s in front of us, and that mindset, honestly, is the one let us make the right decision for the second pit stop [in Mexico].

“Imagine if we were too hung up on the podium?. I’m sure we would have lost the podium with Max coming through. I’m not sure if we could have hung on to P4 with Piastri coming through with the new tyre. So yeah, I think the mindset is very important.”

That strategy call was a difficult one to make, but it was the right one, and it showed signs of clear thought and a good process.

Bearman was running in an unexpected P3, and he had the option to stay out, run to the flag, and try to hold on.

However when cars behind pitted they not only gave themselves fresh tyres with which to fight, but also helped Max Verstappen to have a clearer run at the Haas. The team decided that a solid shot at P4 was better than risking all trying to hold on to third and potentially tumbling down the order in the closing laps. The collective head ruled the heart.

“At that point we were going for the one stop,” Komatsu explained. “So if nobody pitted, we’d have just stayed out and done the one-stop, because I think Max would have got stuck in the DRS train. He wouldn’t have been able to overtake.

“But the minute those two cars behind made a pit stop, that means Max had George [Russell] to go through, then us to go through, pick us off one by one. He would have done that. Then we already made 70% decision to box after those two cars pitted, but as soon as we heard that George is boxing as well, there was no doubt.”

Giving up P3 was the logical move: “We’d only lose position to Max, and he was going to overtake us anyway. So that wasn’t about covering for undercut, it was just about those guys are already converted, and Max was going to come through, so we had nothing to lose.

“Max has got tyre delta. That’s probably why those two guys decided we’re not going to be able to defend. So as soon as we lost that buffer of cars, it’s not going to happen. And you saw how close Max finished with Leclerc, then you saw how much behind we were compared to Leclerc.

“So imagine Max had completely taken us easily, and then how far we’re going to drop back against those cars who made a second stop? So for me, at that point, it’s what’s in front of us? What’s our objective? We’ve got to make sure we get P4.”

Bearman had put his car in a podium position with an early charge that saw him fighting with drivers in the top teams.

“That was good racing, right?,” said Komatsu. “That was amazing, out of Turn 6. That was great racing. And then first stint we had Max behind. Second stint, we had a Mercedes behind. Third stint we had a Mercedes and McLaren behind. I mean, what a privilege to be racing against those top guys.”

Bearman has had something of a messy first full season, getting into scrapes and earning a few penalties, and a good result was just what he needed.

“We’ve been working with Ollie, of course, continuously,” Komatsu noted. “And like I said so many times, his potential is no question. It’s about harnessing that, managing to build up the weekend, nurturing that talent.

“Singapore was very good. Austin was again, very good, but a couple of things, in the sprint, and then the race, incidents. In Mexico missing FP1, jumping in for FP2, bang. And then such a tight qualifying.”

“And then essentially the entire race he was fighting against three top teams, Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren – teams we shouldn’t be fighting. So that is amazing. Track position, free air so much more important. It’s important everywhere. But here with all the temperature restrictions, it’s so important.”

There are fine margins in the midfield these days, and just missing out on Q3 consigned Ocon to a much more difficult race, hampered by traffic. The Frenchman also didn’t feel well during the weekend.

“Austin, the high speed stability, he still struggled, whereas Ollie got the most out of it,” said Komatsu. “This circuit he got everything out of it. He’s not being well this weekend, all the way through, he had a massive headache.

“You look at Esteban’s quali performance. He lost Q3 by three hundredths. He was five-hundredths behind Ollie. They’re basically the same pace all the way through this weekend.

“And then during the race, what obviously made Esteban’s race more difficult was he was stuck behind Tsunoda. During the first stint, he was very happy with the car. He was clearly quicker than Tsunoda. He had a very similar pace to Piastri, so he had the same pace as Ollie. What kills you is the traffic.”

So what then of the last four races – can Bearman and Ocon find enough points to move the team to P7 or P6?

“Honestly, I’ll be least looking forward to Vegas, because it’s a long straight again,” said Komatsu. “In low downforce we are not as competitive, but most of the circuits, like Brazil, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, should be OK. Honestly, because margins are so small, there’s no point looking too far ahead.”

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October 31, 2025 · 11:42 am

How Ocon contributed to a “big day” for Haas with points in Mexico

Bearman stole the headlines but Ocon scored useful points in his wake

He may have been overshadowed by the superb fourth place in Mexico for Ollie Bearman, but Esteban Ocon gave his Haas team a further boost with P9, contributing to a two-point advantage over rivals Sauber.

The Frenchman was quicker than Bearman in FP2 and FP3 – admittedly the rookie had lost track time by missing FP1 – and was then an encouraging P5 in Q1, providing further proof that the Austin upgrade package had paid off.

Alas in Q2 he was wrongfooted by the presence of Yuki Tsunoda and Charles Leclerc, and ended up in a frustrated 12th on the grid.

Hit by Fernando Alonso on the first lap, he was then held up by Tsunoda, complaining of a “dangerous defence” by the Red Bull driver.

Along the way Ocon helped Bearman by briefly keeping Oscar Piastri behind, before ultimately moving up three spots from where he started.

“As a whole it’s fantastic for the team, and really shows that we had a great car pace this weekend,” he said when I asked about his race.

“I really tried to maximise the pace we had. We got unlucky with quite a lot of things. The start, I got touched, I got stuck behind Yuki who was defending like I’ve never seen!

“I defended on Oscar, trying to protect Ollie. I made him lose quite a few seconds with that fight, between four to six, so that was quite good.

“Overall, the car was working super well. I’m happy with our performance this weekend and our learning. Obviously, it didn’t smile to us, the luck, every session. But I think we can be pleased with what we did.”

The Tsunoda defence came a race after the Japanese driver upset Bearman in Austin.

“He moved under braking, that was the point,” said Ocon. “And unfortunately, he was the one also giving me a shit quali, which was not his fault, to be fair. So yeah, I always seem to catch him in the wrong place, the wrong time.

“And basically, that damaged our race, because we must have lost eight or nine seconds stuck behind him in that first stint, and I couldn’t get by. And once we cleared him, then we could stretch our legs. And it was much better. But it was too late.”

There may have been some personal frustration at his unrepresentative grid position, but Ocon was pleased with the team’s overall result.

He’s hoping that fortune goes his way in Brazil, where he made the podium last year with Alpine.

“It’s a big day, obviously,” he said. “We didn’t get the full rewards with the updates that we should have had. I think the pace for us this weekend was very good. We didn’t show everything that there was, so there was some left on the table.

“But it definitely feels good to have that behind us. And I hope it’s not only track related. We are going to see at Interlagos how it is. It’s a track that I look forward to. Good memories from last year. Obviously, I want some rain. That would be nice!”

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October 22, 2025 · 4:44 pm

How Albon, Ocon and Hadjar taught the US GP field to avoid Pirelli’s hard tyre

Usually the hard tyre is a good race option, but it didn’t work in Austin

The US GP brought an intriguing twist on the tyre front as the C1 hard proved to be ineffective in the race, and was quickly abandoned by the three drivers who started on it.

Austin saw Pirelli introduce a double step between compounds, with the C1, C3 and C4 in play, in an attempt to mix up strategies.

Typically the hard is the starting choice of drivers down the field, especially those who are a little out of position after bad qualifying sessions. The general idea is to use its durability to run as far as possible into the race, and hope that a safety car or even a red flag creates a strategic advantage.

That didn’t happen on Sunday, as the tyre simply didn’t switch on properly. Alex Albon abandoned his hards after just seven laps, with Esteban Ocon following on lap 24, and Isack Hadjar on lap 28.

When you consider that Lance Stroll was also able to run as far as lap 28 with his softs – three steps away on the compound scale – it’s a good indication that the hard wasn’t working.

In effect Albon, Ocon and Hadjar served as a litmus test for the rest of the field. Their form plus the unexpectedly strong opening stint from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on the C4 convinced rivals to go to the softs from the mediums on which they had started.

Prior to the race that decision had not been clear cut, with medium/hard cited by Pirelli as the most likely option for the race.

“We were not even sure that a medium/soft could have been a feasible one-stop,” said McLaren boss Andrea Stella. “So we just discovered through the race what the strategy should have been.

“We saw very early that the hard tyre wasn’t a good tyre, because people were coming off the hard tyre, and before it looked like the medium/soft was a possibility. So in this sense, I think Ferrari had done a good job of anticipating that starting on the soft was a good idea.”

For Albon it was particularly galling as he abandoned the hards so early that he was obliged to switch to a two-stop strategy.

“A hot track, hard tyre, normally that’s a recipe for a good race,” he said when I asked him about it. “The hards worked well last year, and long runs in FP1 looked good as well. So we were kind of licking our lips a little bit when I was told there were not many cars on the hard tyre in front of us. And then at the start of the formation lap, I thought that’s a lot less grip than I expected it to be!”

A first lap clash with Gabreil Bortoleto didn’t help: “We had an incident on lap one anyway, that being said, it didn’t really change much to the race. I don’t think it was my fault or that it was Gabriel’s fault either. Then effectively we just decided to get rid of the tyre, and by doing so, almost started a pit stop back basically in our race.”

This season Esteban Ocon has made often used long opening stints to project himself into the points, and the Haas driver was hoping for more of the same in Austin. Alas this time he was left frustrated.

“I think we just gave the info – myself, Alex and Isaac – for the whole field, really, in not using that hard,” he said. “I think it was the tyre that was not working for this track. I had a good start, gained three or four positions. It was pretty good after Turn 1. But unfortunately, I lost it all after three laps. I had no pace, was sliding a lot. It was extremely difficult out there, and when we boxed into the medium, the pace was decent. It was the same as most people that were fighting ahead, but I couldn’t recover after what we lost. So we didn’t get it right this race.”

Given that Hadjar was starting in P20 after his costly Q1 crash Racing Bulls had to try something, but it didn’t pay off as he followed Ocon home in P16.

“The race I anticipated, to be honest,” said the Frenchman. “The race was obviously not amazing today, it was average. And strategy, we wanted to go long and something to happen. But it wasn’t the case. I didn’t want to start on the hard today. I knew soft/medium were just enough to make the whole race, but obviously starting P20, you want to try things that don’t really make sense. So we tried.”

Hadjar stressed that it wasn’t his choice: “If it was down to me, I would have started on another tyre. But I understand that point of view. We had to try something. We had to understand. So I wasn’t against their decision, so that was fine. At least we learned something.”

In Mexico City weekend Pirelli is once again running a two-step compound gap, this time with the C2, C4 and C5 in play. In theory it should be business as usual with the harder tyre a viable race option – it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

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April 9, 2025 · 6:37 am

Bearman makes his point as revised floor boosts Haas

Bearman was in the top 10 for the second time in two races

Oliver Bearman continues to impress at the Haas Formula 1 team, and the young Brit caught the eye in Suzuka by comprehensively outperforming team mate Esteban Ocon.

To be fair it was a slightly tougher weekend for the Frenchman. From the start of the weekend Bearman had the team’s new floor, fast tracked to the car after it proved difficult in Australia.

Ocon in contrast got it for Saturday, and thus only had FP3 in which to optimise the car and get fully comfortable prior to qualifying.

While Bearman qualified 10th and finished in the same position as he logged a useful point, Ocon had to settle for starting 18th, and he wasn’t able to make progress from there.

Like other drivers who have switched teams Ocon is still finding his feet, and it’s also worth recalling that he had the better weekend in China, outpacing Bearman and taking eighth on the road and sixth in the final results.

Nevertheless Suzuka was a statement of intent from Bearman, who has quickly overcome the disappointment of a huge practice crash in Australia.

Japan was a straightforward race for him.

“Pretty boring, I was pretty lonely out there, a bit sleepy,” he said when I asked him about his afternoon. “It was a fun race. With the temperatures dropping like they did today, and the track kind of resetting overnight with the rain, the grip was incredibly high, and the level of pushing was also incredibly high.

“The tyres were super robust today, and it was basically just a flat-out race, and I didn’t quite have enough pace to attack, and I wasn’t slow enough to be attacked either. So it was a bit lonely.”

Bearman confirmed that the revised floor worked well, and he also made an intriguing observation that suggests he might less affected than Ocon by the car’s quirks.

“For me, it seems positive,” he said. “So I’m happy with that. The team has done a great job bringing it so quickly after the upset of Australia. So I think we did a great reaction, and for it to work as expected is a good feeling. Let’s see how it how it performs on the rest of the tracks that we have in this triple header.

“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!

“And the floor has definitely improved the bouncing, and it doesn’t really change the feeling for us. But it allows us to run the car a bit more aggressively, and get a bit more performance out of it, which is good. And it seems like it’s worked this weekend.”

Ocon meanwhile downplayed the suggestion that only having Saturday to get used to the new floor was the reason why he struggled.

“I think it’s a bit more complicated than that,” said the Frenchman. “I think it’s good overall, that the teams managed to bring this update this quickly and react this this quickly. It worked on one car, which is very good.

“We need to pick that up, understand the data from Ollie’s side, and it’s good that he’s managed to pick up a point. And yeah, we are very happy on that side. Now it’s just a matter of turning it into our car as well. And no doubt that this will come too.”

Team boss Ayao Komatsu insisted that as of Saturday the two cars were identical.

“The data is pretty clear,” he said. “It’s working. So we haven’t understood why Esteban couldn’t perform. Both cars as far as we can see, are performing very, very close to each other within the resolution of what we can measure? Not to say there might be something that we cannot measure, but so far, we haven’t found anything.”

Bearman hadn’t sampled any of the first three tracks in an F1 car, although he knew Melbourne from F2, and Suzuka from a Super Formula test.

He now goes to two venues that he has sampled in faster machinery, including Jeddah, where he actually raced last year.

“Every weekend I’ve done so far has had a mistake somewhere,” said the teenager. “Maybe not China, but this one completing the full weekend without any bad points, good qualifying, good race, I’m happy with this one, and it’s a good baseline to improve from.

“I’m definitely excited to go to tracks that I know. At the end, it doesn’t change much by the time you get to qualifying, because even here, having three free practices is enough to learn the track for most.

“So it really all comes down to how comfortable I am in the car. This weekend, I felt really confident to push and lean on it. And if I have that feeling, I hope we can be that competitive in the future races too.”

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