Ollie Bearman Opens Up: “They Were Three Horrible Weeks”

Ollie Bearman left the Interlagos Autodrome with a mix of relief and frustration. The British Haas driver, who finished seventeenth at the São Paulo Grand Prix, did not hide his desire to disconnect after a triple header that he described as "horrible" and it was no wonder: two consecutive retirements in Austin and Mexico and a race in Brazil in which the slow pit stops ruined any possibility of scoring points: "I just want to go home and reset, they have been three horrible weeks, we have lost two opportunities to score and we just have to keep going and do better" Bearman declared after the race.

The calvary began in the United States. Bearman, who had qualified in the top 10 in the wet, found himself involved in an incident with Pierre Gasly in the fight for a position, the Briton tried an overtake on the inside but the contact with the Alpine cost him a ten-second penalty and significant damage to his car that forced him to retire: "I sent one down the inside and to be honest, he saw me because he left space but to me it didn't seem enough. He left space but only half a car and I was committed so we made a bit of contact, I took an enormous amount of damage on my car and probably damaged his too. It was a shame because I felt I was massively penalized anyway since the damage ruined my race and on top of that, I took the penalty. In my opinion it was a racing incident" he explained.

The problem did not end there, Mexico was worse: Bearman was hit from behind by Nico Hülkenberg, which forced him to retire due to the damage suffered: "They just took me out of the race, I was turning towards turn 4 and suddenly, I was watching everyone else pass me, looking in the wrong direction. It was a good race to be honest, I had a great pace, we were in the fight for points and I was in the points when they took me out, it happens it just stinks" the Briton lamented.

In Brazil, the story was not much better: Bearman qualified in the top 10 in wet conditions but a slow pit stop dropped him to seventeenth position: "I had a moment at the start but nothing serious, I lost some positions at the beginning but managed to recover some, so it was net zero, after that I just had very slow pit stops and I couldn't fight with that" he noted. The Briton who had placed great hopes in the weekend, was left without reward while his substitute teammate, Ryo Hirakawa, ascended to tenth place after the penalties.

Haas's situation is worrying, the American team scored only one point in the last three races, while Audi achieved five and closed the gap in the fight for seventh place in the constructors' championship. With three rounds ahead Haas maintains the lead but only by three points. Bearman, for his part, needs to recover the confidence and the pace that led him to shine in the first half of the season.

The three horrible weeks are over and the Briton hopes that what is coming will be much better.