Bearman Thankful for “misfortune” Gift of Tenth in Baku

Oliver Bearman is thankful that some “misfortune” gifted him a tenth-placed finish at 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. 

Bearman began the race from 10th on the grid but fell out of the final points-paying position on Lap 8, and didn’t seem destined to claim any points in his second F1 race until Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez collided on the penultimate lap.

Their collision consequently elevated Bearman into tenth and history, as he became the first driver to score points for two different teams in his first two F1 races, having finished seventh for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia.

The 19 year-old though felt that he lacked pace in his opening stint before he found himself in a scrap with fellow rookie – Franco Colapinto, with seven-time champion – Lewis Hamilton eventually splitting the pair.

“I missed some pace in the first stint and lost a few positions there and that put me a bit behind in the race as I got some traffic and lost some time. In the second stint, I’m quite happy with the performance.

“It’s tough when you’re trying to overtake, you really have to push the tires and they get hot, so I was pushing hard to overtake Franco (Colapinto), and eventually Lewis overtook me, so he was using his experience there to do that.”

Haas’ Team Principal, Ayao Komatsu praised Bearman for delivering “a really good job” to beat Hulkenberg to tenth by just 0.338 seconds, as the race finished under a virtual safety car.

Komatsu also relieved Bearman of any fault for his lack of pace in the opening stint as he blamed the team for poor communication, but was pleased with the Brit’s performance standing in for the suspended Kevin Magnussen.

“Yes, he was overly managing the tire earlier, but the team should’ve done better to inform Ollie during the first stint. The pace really hindered his race but once he realized he was over-managing, he picked it up and had awareness.

“I think it’s brilliant to bring home P10 and a much-needed point for the team. All in all with Ollie, he had a setback in FP3, and underperformed in Q2, but overall it’s impressive.”