São Paulo Grand Prix Sprint Race / Qualifying Recap

Ocon began the Sprint in P18, moving up one spot on the grid following the Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda being required to start the race from the pit lane. Gaining a place on the opening lap, Ocon settled into position until a red flag was brought out on lap 8 after Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Franco Colapinto (Alpine) both hit the wall at Turn 3.

Bearman lost three positions on the opening lap at Turn 4 after making contact with the Racing Bull of Liam Lawson – both drivers later receiving penalties for the incident. Bearman caught back up to the midfield pack in P18 at the time of the red flag stop.

The Sprint resumed with a rolling start, and both MoneyGram Haas F1 Team drivers overtook Lawson on lap 17. They inherited two more positions on the final lap when the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto hit the wall at Turn 1, and the Williams of Alex Albon picked up some of the crash debris. Ocon finished the Sprint P11, with teammate Bearman just behind in P12.

Saturday afternoon then saw Bearman and Ocon back in action to qualify for Sunday’s São Paulo Grand Prix – Bearman finishing eighth and Ocon 17th. 

Ocon exited qualifying in Q1 – the Frenchman taking three sets of Pirelli P Zero Red softs with his fastest lap of 1:10.438 placing him P17. Bearman fared better in the sister VF-25, producing a 1:09.891 to go P3 on the timesheets on his second set of softs.

Bearman ran two fresh sets of softs for Q2, stunning once again with a quickest time of 1:09.755, enough for P2. In Q3, once again utilizing two sets of softs, a fastest lap of 1:09.977 scored the British rookie P8 for tomorrow's race.

Pole position went to McLaren’s Lando Norris (1:09.511) ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli (1:09.685).

Ollie Bearman:

“I had a great feeling from lap 1, but I was surprised by our competitiveness. We were P3 in Q1 and P2 in Q2, so we were very strong. In Q3, I thought my first lap was good but I didn’t improve compared to what I had achieved in Q2, so it’s a bit strange that it panned out like that, and the track wasn’t evolving, but otherwise it was a really good qualifying for us. I’m excited for tomorrow – we showed great race pace in the Sprint, and starting in a good position for tomorrow is nice, I’m really looking forward to the race.”

Esteban Ocon:

“We’re working as hard as we can as a team to find answers. The car was very difficult to drive, lacking balance, so it was a disappointing session. It’s not from a lack of trying though, so I’m sure we’ll find out the answer to this and get to where we should be. The Sprint was a race of survival. It was one of those where if you stay on track and finish the race, you usually gain some positions, but it was hard out there.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal:

“Overall, it was a satisfying day. In the Sprint, we showed that in free air we had good pace. It was clear after that we needed to qualify well, and if we did, we should be able to have a good race on Sunday. Q1 is always the most difficult one because everyone is so close together, you can P6 or P18, and there’s not much in it. Ollie did an amazing job, so much so that we cancelled our final run in Q1 and saved one new set of tires for the rest of qualifying. Esteban had the tires, but his performance wasn’t there, so we really need to understand that - we need both cars to be able to fight in the constructors’ battle.

“In Q2, what can I say, Ollie’s lap was sensational, and he essentially only needed that one lap to get into Q3. Then in the final stage of qualifying, I don’t think we quite got our tire preparation right, but I think from what everyone saw out there today, it’s so sensitive, and I think the team has done a great job. The opportunity is there tomorrow as we start from a decent position and have good pace, I’m looking forward to it.”