Bearman happy to secure top 10 finish for Haas after ‘challenging’ Canadian GP
Ollie Bearman was delighted to secure a top 10 finish for the Banbury-based TGR Haas team in the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on Sunday.
On what was a difficult afternoon for the Haas team, Bearman overcame a few issues to finish 10th and secure a championship point, while team-mate Esteban Ocon also completed the 68-lap race, but ended up 14th and out of the points.
Bearman started from 16th on the grid on soft tires and gained a couple of positions on the opening lap.
He then worked his way into the top 10 when drivers who started on intermediate tires ducked into pits.
Bearman pitted on lap 31 under the virtual safety car and took on medium tires, but he lost time due to a delayed right-rear change.
He was still in the mix for points though, and Bearman chased the Williams of Carlos Sainz to the finish, with just a second separating the duo, to finish 10th.
Ocon started from 17th, also on soft tires, and likewise made gains through the opening stages of the race.
Ocon came into the pits on lap 17, fitting medium tires, before another stop for softs on lap 32.
“I don’t know if we deserved points based on our performance," said Bearman. "But we’ll take it as there’s been weekends where we definitely did and received nothing for it.
"In general, this has been a really challenging weekend for us, but to get points is good.
"We could’ve got more, but we had a slow pit stop, so we need to understand why that happened. It was very slippery and challenging out there.
"I don’t think we’re leaving with a big smile on our face, but we have a week before we need to come back strong in Monaco.”
Ocon said: "It was tough, to say the least. There was something that didn’t work when we were braking, and I kept locking up, so we need to dig into that.
"We changed the car to the new update from qualifying, so I’d only done two proper laps, but as a team we’ll go back and study everything.”