Haas F1 confirms its good start to the season in Shanghai: Oliver Bearman qualified in a solid ninth place for the Sprint race, but Esteban Ocon had to settle for the twelfth fastest time.
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The young Briton showed a competitive pace from the free practice sessions of the Chinese Grand Prix, which allowed him to approach the Sprint qualifying with confidence: « We showed a very good pace from the first lap of free practice, and we were able to build on that to progress. The session was difficult, the balance was a bit tricky and it was hard to string laps together, but we finally managed it and I am satisfied with my ninth place today. »
Bearman was also surprised by the relatively small gap to the leading teams: « I am quite impressed and surprised by the gap to the leaders, as it seems that we have closed it a bit compared to last week. Before this weekend, I didn’t expect to be in the fight for the top 8. »
Points objective
According to him, the fight for points during the Sprint remains possible: « We thought that the four leading teams would be much too far ahead, but in the end that wasn’t really the case. It seems that if we do everything correctly tomorrow, we can score points. »
In the other Haas car, Esteban Ocon failed to make it through SQ2 and was frustrated after the session: « Difficult, that’s the word. We made a good step between free practice and Sprint Qualifying. We are trying to make the car work, there is instability on corner entry and lock-ups at the end of braking. »
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The Frenchman nevertheless believes that these problems can be resolved quickly: « We are working hard to ensure the car meets our expectations, but there are still a few points to examine to improve it by tomorrow. It has potential and we understand it quite well now, so I hope we can solve our problems and get the most out of it. »
Ocon puts things into perspective without a tow
Ocon, on the other hand, praised the energy management, a crucial aspect with the new cars: « It was okay, it was quite well managed. I was all alone on that last lap so I lost a lot on the straight without having a tow, but on the best lap I could do in the session, it was quite well managed. »
With Bearman well-placed and a promising pace, Haas now hopes to capitalize on these good performances during the Sprint and then the main qualifying, in order to aim for another points finish on Sunday.
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