São Paulo Grand Prix Race Recap

Bearman took the start from eighth place on Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires and held position after an early fight with Pierre Gasly. Bearman profited from the retirement of Charles Leclerc to move into seventh, before passing Liam Lawson for sixth into turn one on lap 13. Bearman pitted on lap 17 for Yellow medium tires, and again on lap 43 for another set of mediums, and worked his way through yet-to-pit rivals to re-claim sixth position. Bearman preserved the place through to the checkered flag to secure his and MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s fourth successive points finish.

Ocon started from the pit lane after a pre-race change of engine, doing so on White hard tires, and was forced into a pit stop on lap eight due to a puncture. Ocon re-emerged on medium tires in P16 but began a fightback, working his way up the order, before making a second stop for another set of medium tires on lap 47. Ocon became embroiled in a close fight for the lower points-paying positions, eventually classifying P12, just seven tenths of a second outside of the top 10.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team holds eighth place in the Constructors’ Championship, on 70 points.

Up front, McLaren’s Lando Norris claimed victory, ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

Ollie Bearman:

“I’m very happy. I think honestly, we executed a perfect race, that was the best possible result we could’ve achieved, although we had some fortune with cars retiring. We had good pace, a good strategy, and we made some overtakes as well, which actually isn’t fun because it adds a little bit of risk. Mexico was a bit of a surprise, but to keep that momentum going with P6 is a great feeling, and now we have a great opportunity heading into the final three races.”

Esteban Ocon:

“I would’ve been much further up today if I had not gotten a puncture in the early laps, and unfortunately, it came as the VSC finished and the race restarted. I was there at the end fighting for a point with a group of drivers, and it was looking good, but unfortunately I was missing a few laps. I felt the progress, we had good pace, but luck wasn’t on our side today.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal:

“It’s a great result with Ollie, having very strong race pace. Yesterday’s qualifying was good, but we knew we had even more pace, so obviously our target was to use that in free air. We went for an aggressive two-strop strategy to get Ollie into that free air, and everyone worked so well together to execute that. Ollie drove a fantastic race, it was very pleasing to watch.

“On Esteban’s side, we nearly scored points as well. We had an operational error during the VSC where we picked up a slow puncture, but we should’ve reacted sooner to pit. Unfortunately, Esteban finished P12 but with the pace he had, he could’ve been P7, so it’s a tough lesson for the team to maximize everything. The positive is that overall, the car is very strong since the Austin update.”