Oliver Bearman finished 12th at the Azerbaijan GP. Photo Racepictures.

Key Haas Baku mistake revealed: Why Bearman didn't join the party

12:47, 23 Sep

byNorberto Mujica

Oliver Bearman came home for a P12 finish at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, in what turned out to be a "very boring" race for the Haas F1 driver.

Oliver Bearman couldn't make it into the points in Baku. Photo: RacePictures.

"I really felt like we had good pace today," Bearman said after the race. "[I got] stuck behind a few cars on the hard [tyres]. Luckily, I got some clean air on the medium, but... Yeah, it was too late.

"We lost so much time in the first stint, unfortunately," he added, explaining the reason his points bid in Baku was derailed.

For Bearman, though, it was a dull outing in Baku, since with the characteristically high level of F1 drivers, who can rarely be induced into errors, and the DRS train he was a part of, it wasn't possible for him to make the moves he needed to make into the points.

"[It was] very boring, for sure. But you're still pushing and looking for opportunities, trying to force mistakes from guys ahead. But now we're in F1, and they don't make mistakes that easily.

"So yeah, just pretty much waiting for something to happen, trying to keep a communication line open with the team to really see what you're going to do.

"Eventually we boxed out of it and decided to do the normal race strategy, not hoping for a safety car.

"I think it was the best for our race at that stage, but it was too little too late. We'd lost a lot of time in that first stint behind slower cars," hinting at the possibility of a better result going awry due to the strategy chosen by the Haas F1 pitwall.

Haas F1 edges out of contention in the midfield

For Haas it's been a somewhat inconsistent season with the team's performance fluctuating from race to race, a trait of the current technical regulations that govern the sport.

For Bearman, though, danger looms, since he's accrued 10 points on his super license so far, leaving him just 2 points shy of a race ban. The British rookie has admitted, though, that his approach to racing will now shift to avoid the potentially painful penalty.

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