After two races, Oliver Bearman sits fifth in Formula 1's 2026 drivers' championship – and has remarked upon his pleasure of the balance in Haas' VF-26 chassis.
While only early days, Bearman has been one of the most impressive performers in the early stages of the season, scoring all of Haas' 17-point total thus far as team-mate Esteban Ocon has endured a less fortuitous run.
After finishing seventh in Melbourne, Bearman got a point in the China sprint race ahead of finishing fifth in the grand prix at Shanghai. This followed a near-miss with Isack Hadjar on the opening lap; as the two duelled for position, Hadjar lost the rear at Turn 13 and prompted Bearman to take to the run-off.
Bearman felt that his misfortune and loss of positions at that moment was counteracted by the timing of the safety car, which slotted him into position behind Alpine's Pierre Gasly – whom he later beat to fifth.
Weighing up the strengths of the Haas chassis, Bearman feels that the VF-26 is able to shine more on Sundays – and expects Alpine to offer a concerted challenge through the year.
"I think we're quicker in race trim at the moment. It seems to be the case. Qualifying has been a bit more challenging," Bearman stated.
"I would say that Pierre had been incredibly fast [in China]. Even in the race, you know, the last 10 laps, he was coming at me incredibly quickly.
"There's still a lot of work to do before the next race. We need to optimise a few things, but I'm really happy with the balance of the car, the feeling of the car. So, it's a great baseline. We need to keep working on it."
Comparing the Alpine of Gasly and the Haas of Bearman in qualifying, it is noticeable that the Mercedes-powered Alpine can attain a slightly higher top speed; the Ferrari powertrain has great strengths at the lower end owing to the smaller turbo, but this comes at the expense of top-end power.
Over the course of the race, Bearman was also demonstrably quicker in the early part of their second stint on hards, but Gasly grew into the race and became consistently quicker by lap 32.
It suggests that the Alpine has found a good touch with its tyres over the latter part of a stint and while the two were relatively close on pace towards the end of the grand prix, one might have expected Gasly to provide a sterner challenge with a few more laps available.
In the meantime, Ocon endured less luck with the safety car timing as he opened the race on the hard tyre; although the Frenchman was considerably happier with his race pace versus that of Australia, he cost himself points when he attempted to force a move on Franco Colapinto after the Argentine had emerged ahead following his stop.
Ocon reckoned that he might have finished in the same ballpark as Bearman, had the safety car emerged at a more convenient time for his strategy, while team principal Ayao Komatsu revealed that a pitstop issue had caused Ocon to be overcut by Colapinto – precipitating the incident between the two.
"Esteban also had a very good race, but he was unlucky in his pit stop, where we had a mistake that put him in a position that he shouldn’t have been in," Komatsu stated.
"Without that, he would’ve been in the points as well. Double points would’ve been the icing on the cake, but we’ve shown what’s possible, and that’s what we’re going to aim for in Japan."
