Written by Kavi Khandelwal
Haas F1 Team driver Oliver Bearman secured a double-points finish in Formula One’s United States Grand Prix, but the British rookie’s strong weekend was overshadowed by frustration, as he criticised rival Yuki Tsunoda for an on-track incident he felt was “against the spirit of racing”.
Bearman, who finished P8 in Saturday’s sprint, brought his car home in P9 in Sunday’s Grand Prix to cap off a personally impressive weekend in Austin. While pleased with the result on paper, Bearman was adamant that a better finish was lost due to his rival’s defensive manoeuvres.
“On the face of it, good weekend, good points for the team,” Bearman said. “However, it was clear there was more out there today.”
The rookie’s frustration was aimed directly at Tsunoda, whom he accused of dangerous driving that cost him multiple positions.
“Regarding the incident with Yuki, I felt like what he did was very dangerous—against the spirit of the regulations and against the spirit of going racing, actually,” Bearman stated .
He continued: “This is not how we grow up racing, this is not how we race at this level. Not the way we want to teach people watching, young kids watching how we should be racing, because you should not move in reaction to other cars and that’s what I felt that he did.”
The Haas driver believes the incident directly impacted his final result, costing him a chance to fight for P7.
“Although I avoided a crash, I lost two positions, so it’s a big shame,” he explained. “Disappointing because there was a possibility of more today, at least 8th if not 7th, because clearly I had more pace than him at that stage.”
Bearman also suggested this was part of a pattern from his rival over the weekend, referencing “desperate moves” in both the sprint and the main race.
He added: “He’s been doing these desperate moves… he was dive bombing on the inside the same in the main race in Turn 1. So a lot of risk and I probably should have left a bit more margin for that type of driving.”
Despite the on-track clash, Bearman took significant satisfaction from his own performance, which he sees as a continuation of his strengthening form in the latter half of the season.
“Honestly, it’s just continuing the trend in my opinion because Singapore was very strong and we’ve been heading in that direction for a few races now,” he said.
“To get two consecutive points scoring, build some momentum, it gives me a great feeling heading into Mexico.”