Haas Formula 1 boss Ayao Komatsu has hailed the “amazing reaction” from his team to recover from a disastrous Australian weekend and achieve a double top-10 Chinese Grand Prix finish.
Esteban Ocon finished seventh at Shanghai, while Oliver Bearman made the most of an alternate tyre strategy to reach 10th from 17th on the grid.
This was in contrast to Haas’ Australian struggles, where the team appeared to have the slowest car and its racers only finished 13th and 14th after several drivers crashed out ahead of them.
“It was an amazing reaction from the whole team,” Komatsu told F1 TV of the response.
“Australia was a shock to us, not something we were expecting based on Bahrain testing – but, man, what a reaction.
“Everybody – people in Italy, the UK, US, and trackside, working together within the space of several days… Honestly I’m so happy with the way we’ve been working since that shock to get the result here.
“Everyone has a failure, right? But failure shouldn’t define you. What defines you is how you get up from that failure – and I think as a whole team we showed that.”
In Australia, Haas discovered a fundamental aerodynamic flaw in the VF-25 that hadn’t manifested itself in Bahrain testing because of that circuit’s characteristics, where slow and medium-speed corners predominate. The high-load corners at Albert Park provoked bouncing, which forced the team to compromise its set-up.
The Shanghai circuit dates from the same era of track architect Hermann Tilke’s thinking as Bahrain: most corners are slow or medium-speed, with camber changes thrown in to try to provoke mistakes. Cynics in the mid-2000s, when these tracks were built, believed the paucity of fast corners was a deliberate tactic to slow the cars down and make the sponsor decals more visible.
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
This weekend Ocon qualified 11th, missing Q3 by just 0.03 seconds, then passed Alex Albon’s Williams at the start to run 10th early on. Pitting for the hard tyres at the end of lap 11 then entailed a long second stint to make a one-stop strategy work, but it enabled him to undercut the Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Bearman was eliminated in Q1 so the team opted to start him on the hitherto untried hard-compound Pirellis from 17th on the grid. He pitted at the end of lap 26 and fed out back in 17th place, and had to balance pushing to exploit the better theoretical performance of the mediums with making them last another 30 laps.
“I wasn’t expecting to do a one-stop, I was quite shocked when we went on to mediums,” Bearman told Sky Sports F1.
But Komatsu has cautioned this rebound is likely to be circuit-specific, since the car’s aerodynamic issues have yet to be resolved. If they are ‘baked in’ to the VF-25’s characteristics, then the team’s season is likely to be defined by having to secure maximum gain at tracks that flatter the car.
“I’m not kidding myself to say we solved the problem – we haven’t,” said Komatsu.
“So certain circuits we go to, we’re still gonna have a big problem – but, when we can operate the car in the way we want, thanks to the circuit characteristics, this is what we can do. We delivered today.”
Bearman added: “It’s the type of track which on paper is good for our car. It’s very smooth, not many bumps, and that’s what we’re looking for at the moment. We’d smooth all the other ones if we can…”
Photos from Chinese GP – Race
In this article
Stuart Codling
Formula 1
Esteban Ocon
Oliver Bearman
Haas F1 Team
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Haas Formula 1 boss Ayao Komatsu has hailed the “amazing reaction” from his team to recover from a disastrous Australian weekend to achieve a double top-10 Chinese Grand Prix finish.
Esteban Ocon finished seventh in China, while Oliver Bearman made the most of an alternate tyre strategy to reach 10th from 17th on the grid.
This was in contrast to Haas’ Australian struggles where the team appeared to have the slowest car and its racers only finished 13th and 14th after several drivers crashed out ahead of them.
“It was an amazing reaction from the whole team,” Komatsu told F1TV of the response.
“Australia was a shock to us, not something we were expecting based on Bahrain testing – but, man, what a reaction.
“Everybody – people in Italy, the UK, US, and trackside, working together within the space of several days… Honestly I’m so happy with the way we’ve been working since that shock to get the result here.
“Everyone has a failure, right? But failure shouldn’t define you. What defines you is how you get up from that failure – and I think as a whole team we showed that.”
In Australia, Haas discovered a fundamental aerodynamic flaw in the VF-25 that hadn’t manifested itself in Bahrain testing because of that circuit’s characteristics, where slow and medium-speed corners predominate. The high-load corners at Albert Park provoked bouncing, which forced the team to compromise its set-up.
The Shanghai circuit dates from the same era of track architect Hermann Tilke’s thinking as Bahrain: most corners are slow or medium-speed, with camber changes thrown in to try to provoke mistakes. Cynics in the mid-2000s, when these tracks were built, believed the paucity of fast corners was a deliberate tactic to slow the cars down and make the sponsor decals more visible.
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
This weekend Ocon qualified 11th, missing Q3 by just 0.03 seconds, then passed Alex Albon’s Williams at the start to run 10th early on. Pitting for the hard tyres at the end of lap 11 then entailed a long second stint to make a one-stop strategy work, but it enabled him to undercut the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli.
Bearman was eliminated in Q1 so the team opted to start him on the hitherto untried hard-compound Pirellis from 17th on the grid. He pitted at the end of lap 26 and fed out back in 17th place, and had to balance pushing to exploit the better theoretical performance of the mediums with making them last another 30 laps.
“I wasn’t expecting to do a one stop, I was quite shocked when we went on to mediums,” Bearman told Sky Sports F1.
But Komatsu has cautioned this rebound is likely to be circuit-specific, since the car’s aerodynamic issues have yet to be resolved. If they’re ‘baked in’ to the VF-25’s characteristics, then the team’s season is likely to be defined by having to secure maximum gain at tracks that flatter the car.
“I’m not kidding myself to say we solved the problem – we haven’t,” said Komatsu.
“So certain circuits we go to, we’re still gonna have a big problem – but, when we can operate the car in the way we want, thanks to the circuit characteristics, this is what we can do. We delivered today.”
Bearman added: “It’s the type of track which on paper is good for our car. It’s very smooth, not many bumps, and that’s what we’re looking for at the moment. We’d smooth all the other ones if we can…”
In this article
Stuart Codling
Formula 1
Esteban Ocon
Oliver Bearman
Haas F1 Team
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Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend?
It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last three days.
Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Shanghai International Circuit.
Driver performance summary
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Vote for your driver of the weekend
Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?
Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?
Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.
Who was the best driver of the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix weekend?
No opinion (0%)
Gabriel Bortoleto (0%)
Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
Alexander Albon (1%)
Yuki Tsunoda (0%)
Isack Hadjar (2%)
Oliver Bearman (11%)
Esteban Ocon (8%)
Pierre Gasly (0%)
Jack Doohan (1%)
Fernando Alonso (0%)
Lance Stroll (0%)
George Russell (11%)
Andrea Kimi Antonelli (1%)
Liam Lawson (0%)
Max Verstappen (12%)
Lewis Hamilton (4%)
Charles Leclerc (1%)
Oscar Piastri (47%)
Lando Norris (1%)
Total Voters: 85
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Despite the majority having previous Formula 1 experience, history will reflect that six rookies started the 2025 season at the Australian Grand Prix – and it was a chastening experience for all but one of them.
While the changeable conditions saw four crash out, plus one endure a tough weekend and finish last, Andrea Kimi Antonelli gave a glimpse of his huge potential by taking fifth place for Mercedes.
Motorsport.com looked at how the sextet fared around Albert Park on what was a memorable start to the campaign.
High-five for Antonelli
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Whether you see Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton’s direct replacement or not, he stood out head and shoulders above the other five rookies with a fine performance.
Starting down in 16th, the 18-year-old showed maturity to move up through the pack, making notable overtakes – including twice passing Nico Hulkenberg in near carbon copy moves, having let the experienced Sauber man back through after a spin.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff called the drive “mega” as Antonelli crossed the line fourth but was ultimately dropped to fifth following a five-second penalty for an unsafe pitstop release into the path of Hulkenberg.
“I think today we got all the possible worst conditions for a first race,” he said. “We got wet, slicks on damp, slicks on wet, and then back to wet. So definitely a really, really eventful race, but I’m really happy how it was managed from my side and from the team.
“Of course, I did a couple of mistakes, especially the spin, but the conditions were super, super tricky. Also those white lines were a killer.
“The team really helped me throughout the whole race and made all the right calls, and [I] definitely cannot complain about today.”
Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Wolff gave a glowing review of Antonelli’s debut display: “He just reeled them in one by one, showed the pace when he had no traffic, and then eventually ended up P4 on the road and P5 from a result, and that’s really impressive.
“Even very good drivers spun or hit the wall, and it’s easier to not finish than to finish. He kept his cool and it was just very impressive to see, and it shows that he has a good future as long as the trajectory keeps being like it is.”
Ollie has to grin and bear it
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
For Oliver Bearman, it could be seen as a positive that the 19-year-old finished the race for Haas, given he had crashed out in free practice one and three – sitting out the second session due to the damage to his car.
He also struggled in wet weather as a stand-in for Haas at last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix but brought the car home in Melbourne, even if he was last of the runners to take the chequered flag.
Starting from the pitlane, Bearman was pleased with his performance although he conceded Haas would need to find improvements moving forward.
“It’s an achievement just to finish a race like this because they’re incredibly difficult,” said the British racer.
“Of course, I don’t want to dwell on the past. I want to get rid of it and move on to the next one. I’m not pleased with my mistakes, but to finish the race in a good way on my side gives me confidence going to China.
“This inter tyre is very tough when it starts to rain again and I was happy with my performance and execution, even if as a team we’re still missing pace.
“[It is] incredibly, incredibly tough to drive the car in these conditions. It’s the toughest you’ll find and even if in Brazil I was fighting for the points and now I’m fighting to really catch or stay on the pack, it’s a different type of race compared to the one I was in in Brazil.
“But same push and drive, and I’m glad that I’ve learned from the mistakes I made in Brazil and had a relatively error-free race.”
A-Borted start
Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
Gabriel Bortoleto outqualified team-mate Hulkenberg, not bad for a man starting his first F1 race to a wizened campaigner of 228 grand prix.
The Brazilian has been batting away questions surrounding remarks from Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, who labelled the 20-year-old a “B” grade driver.
He ultimately crashed out in the latter stages in Australia but had looked in good shape, all things considered, until that point – although he was hit with a five-second penalty for an unsafe release.
“Obviously not an easy start. I would say it was a good weekend overall for all the learning we got there,” said the back-to-back F3 and F2 champion.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t finish as we expected. Luckily for the team, Nico scored some good points and I’m very happy for them. I’m sorry for my mistake there. I tried to recover a bit what we lost in the safety car and I’m looking forward to China now.
“We take some positives from this weekend. We learn from the negatives, and heads up. It’s just the beginning of a long season.
“I was very close to Nico the whole race on inters. Then we went to pit and then we double-stacked. I lost a lot of time there with the safety car as well, with the unsafe release.”
Aussie curse strikes Doohan
Jack Doohan, Alpine crash
Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images
Ask most people in the F1 paddock and they will tell you that Jack Doohan was already under pressure before a wheel had been turned this season.
Having raced for Alpine in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the end of 2024, the Australian came into this year with speculation he was already driving for his seat after Franco Colapinto joined the team as a reserve driver.
Crashing out of his home race on the opening lap will do little to silence those rumours, but the 22-year-old was determined to take positives away from a tough weekend.
“In this sport, things happen very quickly, as we’ve just seen, and the next round is already almost upon us,” he said, already turning an eye to the Chinese Grand Prix next weekend.
“So it was an unfortunate way [to go out], but a lesson is learned. I’ve digested it. There’s a lot of positives that we have to take away from this weekend, and for me they outweigh this negative, and I’m looking forward to bouncing back for next weekend.
“It seemed I lost it on the third to fourth gear upshift. As soon as I went into fourth, I lost the car.
“I think maybe a combination of the white line, but it seems that we had a spike in RPM when I’ve upshifted to fourth so we’re just double-checking to make sure that everything’s behaving itself and maybe a little bit less right foot, a little bit more left, and it won’t happen again.
“So some things that I’m going to need to understand because, for me, that wasn’t out of the normal, but a constant learning process. Unfortunately, this one has big consequences.
“But I’ve definitely learned, and I’m going to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”
Hamilton hugs for Hadjar
Isack Hadjar, RB F1 Team, Anthony Hamilton
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
For Isack Hadjar, qualifying 11th for his debut race would have been seen as a fine start to life at Racing Bulls.
However, he did not even make the start of the race as the tricky track surface caught him out on the formation lap when a spin ended with the Frenchman breaking his rear wing in the wall.
Visibly upset, the 20-year-old was consoled on his return to the paddock by Anthony Hamilton, father of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
“I’m just embarrassed and sorry for the team,” Hadjar said, his accident having caused an aborted start to the 2025 season.
“I overdid it, I just over-slipped the rears and once I lost the car, I tried to save it but I was just a passenger, it just snapped so fast and I didn’t expect it.
“I’m just mad that these mistakes can happen. Breaking the car so early in the season really breaks my heart. I’m really sorry for the team. I’m missing out on more experience. My first grand prix, missing out on a wet track.”
Asked about Anthony Hamilton’s input, he added: “It means a lot, knowing that he knew where I was, how bad I felt, to go and see me in the worst moment ever.
“I think it’s nice gesture from him. I really appreciate that. [He told me to] just keep my head high and be proud of myself. I did well yesterday. Nice stuff.”
Lowly Lawson
Liam Lawson, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images
Being across the Red Bull garage from Max Verstappen is a pressured place to be in F1 and Liam Lawson is the latest to try and match the flying Dutchman.
Having been preferred over Yuki Tsunoda to be promoted from Racing Bulls for 2025, Lawson is arguably the furthest away from a rookie having already competed in 11 grand prix before this season.
The New Zealander, though, found his first weekend in the senior Red Bull team to be a difficult one as he started from the pitlane following changes to his rear wing, having only qualified down in 18th.
It was a calculated risk that did not pay off as Lawson found himself running at the back of the field with the Haas duo while Verstappen competed at the business end against the McLarens.
A poor race was summed up with a late crash into the barriers as the rain returned.
“We wanted to take a risk so that was a shared gamble together, but I was just apologising for putting the car on the wall,” Lawson said.
“We were hoping for a majority-wet race and it basically dried up more than we thought, and we struggled a lot with the fronts in the first stint, just overheating.”
Asked what positives he would take from the day, Lawson replied: “Not much honestly, I’m just looking forward to going to China and resetting.”
In this article
Mark Mann-Bryans
Formula 1
Liam Lawson
Jack Doohan
Isack Hadjar
Oliver Bearman
Gabriel Bortoleto
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
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Despite the majority having previous Formula 1 experience, history will reflect that six rookies started the 2025 season at the Australian Grand Prix – and it was a chastening experience for all but one of them.
While the changeable conditions saw four crash out, plus one endured a tough weekend and finished last, Andrea Kimi Antonelli gave a glimpse of his huge potential by taking fifth place for Mercedes.
Autosport looked at how the sextet fared around Albert Park on what was a memorable start to the campaign.
High-five for Antonelli
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Whether you see Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton’s direct replacement or not, he stood out head and shoulders above the other five rookies with a fine performance.
Starting down in 16th, the 18-year-old showed maturity to move up through the pack, making notable overtakes – including twice passing Nico Hulkenberg in near-carbon copy moves having let the experienced Sauber man back through after a spin.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff called the drive “mega” as Antonelli crossed the line fourth but was ultimately dropped to fifth following a five-second penalty for an unsafe pitstop release into the path of Hulkenberg.
“I think today we got all the possible worst conditions for a first race,” he said. “We got wet, slicks on damp, slicks on wet, and then back to wet. So definitely a really, really eventful race but I’m really happy how it was managed from my side and from the team.
“Of course, I did a couple of mistakes, especially the spin, but the conditions were super, super tricky. Also those white lines were a killer.
“The team really helped me throughout the whole race and made all the right calls and definitely cannot complain about today.”
Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Wolff gave a glowing review of Antonelli’s debut display: “He just reeled them in one by one, showed the pace when he had no traffic, and then eventually ended up P4 on the road and P5 from a result, and that’s really impressive.
“Even very good drivers spun or hit the wall and it’s easier to not finish than to finish, and he kept his cool and it was just very impressive to see and it shows that he has a good future as long as the trajectory keeps being like it is.”
Ollie has to grin and bear it
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
For Oliver Bearman, it could be seen as a positive that the 19-year-old finished the race for Haas, given he had crashed out in free practice one and three – sitting out the second session due to the damage to his car.
He also struggled in wet weather as a stand-in for Haas at last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix but brought the car home in Melbourne, even if he was last of the runners to take the chequered flag.
Starting from the pitlane, Bearman was pleased with his performance although he conceded Haas will need to find improvements moving forward.
“It’s an achievement just to finish a race like this because they’re incredibly difficult,” said the British racer.
“Of course, I don’t want to dwell on the past. I want to get rid of it and move on to the next one. I’m not pleased with my mistakes but to finish the race in a good way on my side gives me confidence going to China.
“This inter tyre is very tough when it starts to rain again and I was happy with my performance and execution, even if as a team we’re still missing pace.
“[It is] incredibly, incredibly tough to drive the car in these conditions. It’s the toughest you’ll find and even if in Brazil I was fighting for the points and now I’m fighting to really catch or stay on the pack, it’s a different type of race compared to the one I was in in Brazil.
“But same push and drive and I’m glad that I’ve learned from the mistakes I made in Brazil and had a relatively error-free race.”
A-Borted start
Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
Gabriel Bortoleto outqualified team-mate Hulkenberg, not bad for a man starting his first F1 race to a wizened campaigner of 228 grand prix.
The Brazilian has been batting away questions surrounding remarks from Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, who labelled the 20-year-old a “B” grade driver.
He ultimately crashed out in the latter stages in Australia but had looked in good shape, all things considered, until that point – although he was hit with a five-second penalty for an unsafe release.
“Obviously not an easy start. I would say it was a good weekend overall for all the learning we got there,” said the back-to-back F3 and F2 champion.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t finish as we expected. Luckily for the team, Nico scored some good points and I’m very happy for them. I’m sorry for my mistake there. I tried to recover a bit what we lost in the safety car and I’m looking forward to China now.
“We take some positives from this weekend. We learn from the negatives and heads up. It’s just the beginning of a long season.
“I was very close to Nico the whole race in inters. Then we went to pit and then we double-stacked. I lost a lot of time there with the safety car as well, with the unsafe release.”
Aussie curse strikes Doohan
Jack Doohan, Alpine crash
Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images
Ask most people in the F1 paddock and they will tell you that Jack Doohan was already under pressure before a wheel had been turned this season.
Having raced for Alpine in the Abu Dhabi GP at the end of 2024, the Australian came into this year with speculation he was already driving for his seat after Franco Colapinto joined the team as a reserve driver.
Crashing out of his home race on the opening lap will do little to silence those rumours but the 22-year-old was determined to take positives away from a tough weekend.
“In this sport, things happen very quickly, as we’ve just seen, and the next round is already almost upon us,” he said, already turning an eye to the Chinese Grand Prix next weekend.
“So it was an unfortunate way [to go out], but a lesson is learned. I’ve digested it. There’s a lot of positives that we have to take away from this weekend and for me, they outweigh this negative and I’m looking forward to bouncing back for next weekend.
“It seemed I lost it on the third to fourth gear upshift. As soon as I went into fourth, I lost the car.
“I think maybe a combination of the white line but it seems that we had a spike in RPM when I’ve upshifted to fourth so we’re just double-checking to make sure that everything’s behaving itself and maybe a little bit less right foot, a little bit more left, and it won’t happen again.
“So some things that I’m going to need to understand because, for me, that wasn’t out of the normal, but a constant learning process. Unfortunately, this one has big consequences.
“But I’ve definitely learned, and I’m going to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”
Hamilton hugs for Hadjar
Isack Hadjar, RB F1 Team, Anthony Hamilton
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
For Isack Hadjar, qualifying 11th for his debut race would have been seen as a fine start to life at Racing Bulls.
However, he did not even make the start of the race as the tricky track surface caught him out on the formation lap when a spin ended with the Frenchman breaking his rear wing in the wall.
Visibly upset, the 20-year-old was consoled on his return to the paddock by Anthony Hamilton, father of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
“I’m just embarrassed and sorry for the team,” Hadjar said, his accident having caused an aborted start to the 2025 season.
“I overdid it, I just over-slipped the rears and once I lost the car, I tried to save it but I was just a passenger it just snapped so fast and I didn’t expect it.
“I’m just mad that these mistakes can happen. Breaking the car so early in the season really breaks my heart. I’m really sorry for the team. I’m missing out on more experience. My first grand prix, missing out on a wet track.”
Asked about Anthony Hamilton’s input, he added: “It means a lot, knowing that he knew where I was, how bad I felt, to go and see me in the worst moment ever.
“I think it’s nice gesture from him. I really appreciate that. [He told me to] just keep my head high and be proud of myself. I did well yesterday. Nice stuff.”
Lowly Lawson
Liam Lawson, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images
Being across the Red Bull garage from Max Verstappen is a pressured place to be in F1 and Liam Lawson is the latest to try and match the flying Dutchman.
Having been preferred over Yuki Tsunoda to be promoted from Racing Bulls for 2025, Lawson is arguably the furthest away from a rookie having already competed in 11 grand prix before this season.
The New Zealander, though, found his first weekend in the senior Red Bull team to be a difficult one as he started from the pitlane following changes to his rear wing having only qualified down in 18th.
It was a calculated risk that did not pay off as Lawson found himself running at the back of the field with the Haas duo while Verstappen competed at the business end against the McLarens.
A poor race was summed up with a late crash into the barriers as the rain returned.
“We wanted to take a risk so that was a shared gamble together, but I was just apologising for putting the car on the wall,” Lawson said.
“We were hoping for a majority wet race and it basically dried up more than we thought and we struggled a lot with the fronts in the first stint, just overheating.”
Asked what positives he would take from the day, Lawson replied: “Not much honestly, I’m just looking forward to going to China and resetting.”
In this article
Mark Mann-Bryans
Formula 1
Jack Doohan
Liam Lawson
Isack Hadjar
Oliver Bearman
Gabriel Bortoleto
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
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Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Australian Grand Prix weekend?
It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last three days.
Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Albert Park.
Driver performance summary
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Vote for your driver of the weekend
Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?
Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?
Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.
Who was the best driver of the 2025 Australian Grand Prix weekend?
No opinion (0%)
Gabriel Bortoleto (1%)
Nico Hulkenberg (6%)
Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
Alexander Albon (10%)
Yuki Tsunoda (1%)
Isack Hadjar (4%)
Oliver Bearman (0%)
Esteban Ocon (0%)
Pierre Gasly (0%)
Jack Doohan (1%)
Fernando Alonso (0%)
Lance Stroll (1%)
George Russell (2%)
Andrea Kimi Antonelli (19%)
Liam Lawson (0%)
Max Verstappen (8%)
Lewis Hamilton (1%)
Charles Leclerc (0%)
Oscar Piastri (2%)
Lando Norris (42%)
Total Voters: 83
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Oliver Bearman has suffered another blow to what has already been a dreadful weekend for the Haas F1 driver. The rookie will start the Australian Grand Prix from the pit lane after the team changed suspension set-up on his car.
Bearman crashed out in the first day of practice, requiring a power unit replacement before lights out on the first race of the season. He then beached his car in the gravel during Saturday’s final practice session and suffered a mechanical issue in qualifying without recording a lap time.
He was quick to own up to his mistakes, telling reporters that his errors were clumsy. “It’s a petty unforgiving circuit and two seemingly small errors giving big consequences and missing out on all of my running. It was clumsiness from my side to make these errors, honestly, and that’s not good enough,” he said. “And then of course the gearbox issue and the qualifying pretty much sums up what we’ve had so far.”
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
The 19-year-old Brit said the team was also lacking performance, with his teammate Esteban Ocon starting just one place ahead of him on Sunday. “There’s a long season ahead of us, I’m not gonna get down about two days in a very long season. I think as a team we’re struggling a bit more than we anticipated and more than we looked in Bahrain, so you know we’ve got a bit of work to do on that side of things on pure car performance and, of course, I haven’t helped out very much because the team’s pretty much running with one car,” he said.
“Obviously I haven’t done enough laps to really feel what the car is handling like I can only tell you from Esteban’s comments, but just on pure lap time we’re not that strong.”
Read Also:
In this article
Emily Selleck
Formula 1
Oliver Bearman
Haas F1 Team
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Oscar Piastri raised the expectations of his home crowd in Melbourne by setting the fastest time in final practice.
However there was little to choose between the three quickest teams at the end of the last hour of running before qualifying. George Russell, second for Mercedes, and Max Verstappen, third for Red Bull, both lapped within a tenth of a second of Piastri’s time.
Yesterday’s pace-setter Charles Leclerc made it four different cars in the top four, lapping just over a quarter of a second off Piastri. However the Ferrari driver was less happy with the change in balance he felt since yesterday, complaining his car was “understeery”.
The two drivers who were arguably most in need of extra running got almost none. Oliver Bearman, whose crash yesterday left him with just a dozen laps on the board, joined the track immediately after the pit lane exit lights turn green. To his team’s dismay, he spun into a gravel trap at turn 11 soon afterwards, causing another session stoppage.
New Red Bull driver Liam Lawson, who was only 17th accompanied Bearman onto the circuit when the session began. However he soon returned to the pits with an apparent power unit problem and never re-emerged.
Verstappen, still running the newer front wing specification on his RB21 compared to his team mate, pressed on alone. Having lagged well off the pace yesterday, he improved his time by over a second.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli had a trouble-free run to the fifth fastest time in the Mercedes.
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Behind him, Williams underlined their status as potential midfield front runners. By the end of the session Carlos Sainz Jnr was just three-tenths of a second off the pace, with team mate Alexander Albon just six thousandths of a second behind him.
Lewis Hamilton was eighth, two-tenths of a second off Leclerc. He kept pressing race engineer Ricardo Adami for details on the gap between them, and appeared to be losing the most time in the quicker right-hander of turn six, where the gravel trap has been expanded since last year and now extends right up to ther edge of the kerb.
Yuki Tsunoda put Racing Bulls in the top five. Lando Norris completed the top 10, six-tenths of a second off Piastri, after abandoning a better lap in the penultimate corner. He did, however, set the fastest time of anyone in the final sector before the session ended.
2025 Australian Grand Prix Grand Prix third practice result
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2025 Australian Grand Prix Grand Prix combined practice times
Oliver Bearman’s crash in the first practice session was especially unfortunate for Haas as their car did not live up to the team’s expectations in Australia.
The rookie spun into a barrier at turn 10 after just a dozen laps in the first practice session. The team’s mechanics worked quickly to repair the car for the second practice session, which began two-and-a-half hours after the first ended, but narrowly failed to do so.
“I’m a bit sad to have missed all the running today,” Bearman admitted afterwards. “The guys did a great job to try and get the car back out, we just ran out of time.
“I just had a small mistake in turn 10, which put me a bit wide, and out there, it’s very, very bumpy and I unfortunately lost the car.”
Bearman said that prior to his crash he “really felt confident in the car – maybe too much.”
Haas was rooted to the bottom of the times in both sessions. Esteban Ocon’s best lap of 1’18.034 was six tenths of a second off the next team.
“Today was a pretty difficult day,” team principal Ayao Komatsu admitted afterwards. “It wasn’t the performance we were expecting.
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“We have one indication as to why in FP1, but Ollie crashed so we couldn’t completely get to the bottom of why we were uncompetitive, so we need to make another step tonight and then do the best we can tomorrow.”
Ocon said “it hasn’t been the smoothest day” for the team. “Obviously it’s the first day of the year so it is normal that it goes that way, but we still have more to put together to try and get correct, to try and exploit the maximum out of the car.
“I was still not happy with the balance and how the car felt. We did a step between P1 and P2, but we need more.”
However he believes the route the team need to take with its car tomorrow “is clear for us.”
“We need to try and do that of course and hopefully we can do that in [final practice] and then build on from there,” he said.
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Oliver Bearman apologised to his Haas mechanics after a crash during first practice for the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix saw the British rookie forced to sit out the second hour on Friday.
With a little over 20 minutes remaining of FP1, Bearman took too much kerb and ran wide at Turns 9 and 10, running onto the gravel and ultimately slamming into the wall, bringing out a red flag.
While the 19-year-old was cleared by medical staff, his Haas needed plenty of attention and, despite the team’s best efforts, he was unable to get out of the garage for second practice.
“The feeling was good. I think just wanting a bit too much, too soon – which is kind of my approach, which isn’t really the right one for F1,” Bearman explained.
“In F2 you go straight to quali after the first practice session and in F1 you have two more, so there’s no need to be straight on the limit. Maybe I overdid it slightly, but it’s totally on me.
“Just a bit too much steering lock over the compression at the apex of 10, which sent me wide, and it’s quite bumpy out there. I just lost it.
“Once you’re in the gravel it’s so bumpy and there is asphalt, grass, bumps and I was already out of it, but once you’re there, honestly, there is no more control, unfortunately.”
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Both sides of the Haas garage worked on trying to repair Bearman’s VF-25 in the hope of sending him out towards the latter stages of the afternoon practice session. However, their attempts were vain as Bearman was unable to take to the track at Albert Park.
Asked if he felt well physically, Bearman replied: “Yes, fine, it was a small hit, just not great for the car. So, yeah, my apologies to the team.
“It would have been nice just to do an install and check everything, make sure everything was OK for tomorrow.
“The guys did an amazing job, both sides of the garage helping me out to try and get me back on track. I can only apologise to them, and I owe them a few beers on Sunday.
“They’ve had a busy few weeks starting out with everything, building up the second car now, and to have the damage so early on and to put them back to work and give them a long evening is not really good enough. So, yeah, I can only apologise to them.”
While Bearman was confined to the back of the garage, fellow Haas newcomer Esteban Ocon was the slowest of the 19 runners able to post a time in FP2.
Having completed 31 laps, the Frenchman’s best effort still left him over a second and a half off the pace set by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Asked by Autosport if there was more in the car, Ocon said: “It’s still very early days. Of course, it wasn’t the smoothest day for us.
“We’ve had quite a few difficulties in some areas, and we need to smooth that all together. There’s a lot for us to test. We completely changed the car from P1 to P2.
“There are still some readings that we’re not happy with in P2. We’ve lost a little bit of time in some sessions, and we also didn’t get the full running with the two cars to be able to compare with both set-ups in general.
“It hasn’t been the smoothest day, but it’s the first Friday of the year, so that’s pretty normal.”
Team principal Ayao Komatsu admitted to Haas having had “a pretty difficult day” in Melbourne, with the outfit needing further analysis to get to the bottom of its worries.
“It wasn’t the performance we were expecting,” Komatsu said. “We have one indication as to why in FP1, but Ollie crashed so we couldn’t completely get to the bottom of why we were uncompetitive, so we need to make another step tonight and then do the best we can tomorrow.”
Additional reporting by Filip Cleeren
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In this article
Mark Mann-Bryans
Formula 1
Oliver Bearman
Haas F1 Team
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