Esteban Ocon reflects on his collision with Ollie Bearman at an extremely frustrating British Grand Prix « »

The Haas drivers, Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman, both left frustrated from the British Grand Prix. The Frenchman admitted that he thought he and his teammate deserved better, at the end of a race marked by a collision between the two men in the final stages of the event.

An incident between teammates

It was a turbulent afternoon for Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman, starting 14th, found himself stuck at the start between Liam Lawson’s Racing Bull and Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull, before making contact with Liam Lawson.

If he was able to continue the race, Esteban Ocon was later involved in another collision, this time with the other Haas, driven by Ollie Bearman. Both cars spun on the track, and although they both reached the finish, neither driver scored points. Bearman finished 11th, just outside the top 10, and Ocon 13th.

It was an extremely frustrating race, that’s for sure, acknowledged Esteban Ocon after the finish, held in changing weather conditions.

« From the start, I was unfortunately stuck between two cars, I immediately saw that a contact was going to happen and the moment I realized it, I tried to lift my foot. But, well, there simply wasn’t room for three cars. I slowed down, and it was Liam who took the full impact. I’m glad he’s okay. »

« It’s almost a miracle that my car remained intact after that. Then, we made the right choices until the moment where we didn’t switch to new intermediate tires. We missed the opportunity, which doesn’t happen to me often. I’m frankly annoyed by the entire race », he explains.

What happened with Ollie at the end makes me sad, sad for the team, because we both deserved a lot more today. We deserved to be in the points, considering where we started. We’ll analyze this to improve and avoid these kinds of mistakes.

A first eventful home Grand Prix for Bearman

On his side, Ollie Bearman was competing in his very first home Grand Prix in Formula 1, and the day was not any kinder. The Briton started from 18th place after receiving a 10-place grid penalty for failing to respect a red flag during free practice.

He was one of the few drivers to have taken the gamble of switching to slick tires at the end of the formation lap. A choice that did not pay off as rain returned quickly.

Ollie Bearman was also involved in a collision with Yuki Tsunoda – for which the Red Bull driver received a 10-second penalty – before hitting Esteban Ocon later in the race. Despite this, the 20-year-old driver regretted not scoring any points.

« It was a tough race », explained Bearman. « Some bad decisions, notably on my part. Switching to slicks early in the race wasn’t the right choice with the rain coming. I lost a lot of time. »

At one point, I was hit. The slicks really cost me dearly, but despite everything, we were 11th and fighting for points. It’s really a shame. The car was very fast today and this weekend in general, so it’s frustrating not to bring anything back, he explains.

The conditions were difficult, there was only one dry line. I couldn’t overtake [George] Russell at the end. A complicated race.

Asked about what he would take away from his very first British Grand Prix, Bearman concluded: “A lot of things, clearly. The car performed very well, which is a positive point. I am satisfied with the balance and the progress made. I had a lot of confidence at the wheel, so there are plenty of lessons to learn from this weekend.”