On Saturday night at the Bahrain Grand Prix of Formula 1, the mood in Haas was quite bleak.
The rookie pilot Oliver Bearman had just described the last for the race, while the duration of Esteban Ocon Q2 left the mechanics with some work to do before the Grand Prix, and the veteran driver was placed in P14 in the initial grid.
But the beauty of F1 is that fortunes can change in an instant, as they did for the hare on Sunday. Ocon not only found the points, taking advantage of a security car to gain position on the track to finish eighth, but Bearman delivered a master recovery unit, collecting ten finishes Tentrin Grabrain.
That cools to the team its second result of two points of the season more than Red Bull for those who take notes and vaulted Haas to fifth place in the classification of the Construction Championship.
Now they go to Jeddah for the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, hoping to maintain the impulse.
“Jeddah sacrifices the unique challenge of a high -speed street circuit with little margin of driving error,” said Ayao Komatsu team director in the previous view of the equipment. “Usually, we will execute lower drag settings compared to the circuits that we have on the leg until the end of this year, so we stabilize the car and make the tires work with a low drag configuration will be key.
“This is also the first circuit we visit this year, where Ollie has previous experience in Formula 1 races. It is difficult to predict exactly how the VF-25 will work in Jeddah, but we have been obtaining the maximum of it in recent races.
“We are looking to carry this impulse and finish the first triple header of the season, which is very demanding for everyone on the track and in our factories in a high.”
As Komatsu pointed out, Jeddah is one of the few circuits where the rookie of the teams has experience in F1 races. Bearman made his F1 debut in the 2024 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, intervened by Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jr., who was recovering from an emergency appendectomy. Despite having only one practice session at the SF-24 before qualifying, Bearman lost the Q3 in his debut, qualifying the 11th.
He finished seventh in his first F1 race, stopping Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris in the section despite the fact that the two veteran conductors have fresher tires.
“I am very excited to return to Jeddah, it is the first repeated race of my career, which is great. Having had the experience of last year it was very pleasant and helpful and it was a climax of my life so far. Heart,” said Bearman.
“Even before my debut in Formula 1, I really enjoyed driving by Jeddah due to its high speed nature, and the emotion of leading to such speeds between the walls, so I am anxious to return and now have a full weekend in my belt, not only, FP3, Quali and the race, it should be good.”
As for Ocon, the experienced driver hopes to restrict an “exciting” circuit throughout the Red Sea.
“Jeddah is an exciting circuit. I think this track is really demanding for the driver; it is very fast and there is so much grip that you need so close to the wall and that is how much there is to win, you.
“It will be extremely hot there, this year we arrive later later that before, it will be around 40 degrees, so it will be a challenge for all of us and we must be ready for heat. In general, I hope inward.”
Haas currently has 20 points in the season, one more than Williams as the first triple header of the F1 season comes to an end in Saudi Arabia.
