🇨🇳 F1'25, R02: Bearhug finish

The hairpin towards the end of the lap in Shanghai is a key overtaking opportunity. The drivers barrel into it at their top speed of about 340kmph (211mph) before choosing a braking point that we would have done maybe 500m and new pair of underwear ago and sometimes do it while threading the needle against a competitor.

Haas’ Ollie Bearman showed how it was done in his first competitive race in China, executing a deft switchback on several occasions to score his first points as a full-time Haas driver. It was a great day for the team, with Esteban Ocon pulling into fifth eventually for his best result in China, and helping to erase the nightmare start he had with Alpine in 2024, failing to score a point until Round 6 in Miami.

And, after China, the team Ocon left is now the only team yet to score a point in 2025, with Pierre Gasly finishing 11th on track in both Grands Prix so far. The other Alpine driver, Jack Doohan, is under pressure from an army of reserve drivers, and did not help his cause by picking up a 10-second penalty when trying to defend himself at the same hairpin.

These results are all different to what you may have seen on track. Both Ferraris and Gasly fell foul of technical requirements, causing the dreaded DSQ to replace their result. For Ferrari especially, the loss of 18 points puts them fifth - level with Williams - when they were previously below Red Bull in fourth.

But this is not going to be writing about the thickness of a rear skid plank. Back to Bearman, and the British teenager showed several veterans just how to overtake after the 1.2km straight, sacrificing a little going into it and roaring out of the tight bend to beat his rivals.

It was deliberate and composed and everything Haas would have wanted out their young driver, making the most out of his one-stop strategy and helping Haas eventually to 14 points from the weekend. It’s their best points haul after two races since Romain Grosjean and 2016, when the French driver finished sixth and fifth in the team’s debut races.

Bearman started the race from 17th, being eliminated in Q1, and starting on the hard tyre. No team had used the compound up until this point, and he eventually drove more laps with the medium set after pitting on lap 26. On those mediums, on various laps he gained on and pushed past Liam Lawson, Doohan and Carlos Sainz at the hairpin before using his DRS to get beyond Gasly just before the turn 1 corkscrew. This is a good list of drivers, with Gasly and Sainz race-winning veterans to test himself against.

It’s a huge contrast to Australia, with Bearman apologising to the team for mistakes he made in Melbourne, causing red flags in P1 and P3 before coming home in difficult conditions in 14th, technically running last in the changing Albert Park conditions.

So to bounce back from this disappointing full debut was huge. Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu commented “Everyone has a failure, right? But failure shouldn't define you. What defines you is how you get up from that failure, and I think as a whole team we showed that.”

It was also interesting to hear Bearman throw in a small catchphrase of “Ciao!” as he passed on the hairpin. If I was ever in a position like that, I suspect I would be a lot more sweary and a lot less in control, but even though he was cringing after the race about it, Bearman continued to show his composure against drivers with much more experience than him. By the way, if Haas’ marketing team has anything about them, there will be t-shirts of “ciao!” appearing almost immediately.

Each rookie will take time to adjust to their new surroundings. Kimi Antonelli has already scored 22 points - more than seven other teams, and despite starting and finishing eighth, secured driver of the day. Bearman’s four puts him on the board.

Isack Hadjar, Lawson, Doohan and Gabriel Bortoleto have zero, but rounding out the 20 drivers is very much not a rookie Fernando Alonso, who ended up cooking his brakes, being the only retirement and failing to finish both races so far this season. The Spanish driver has been stuck on 32 race wins for half his career now, with no sign of that changing until 2026 at least and the change in regulations, Adrian Newey and a new Honda engine all looking like it will be jam tomorrow for Aston Martin.

Aston have not had a double-points finish since Silverstone last season - one of only four times they managed it. Haas only managed three last season, so to already score one through Ocon and Bearman is a huge bonus to Haas.

You’d probably back Bearman to finish outside the points more than inside the top 10 as the season goes on. The Haas is not the finished article with high-speed corners a weakness, and the Dunlop and spoon corners demanding commitment from a driver, Haas may well be off the pace again. But where they can make it work, both Ocon and Bearman showed that they can contend with the midfield cars and compete for points. Those who remember the 2021 season will know that it wasn’t always that way for Haas.

Formula 1 gives the teams a week to regroup now, with the opening double header over. Perennial driver favourite Suzuka is up next at the start of April., a race that has been won by Red Bull every year this decade. McLaren have won at Suzuka several times, with an illustrious list of drivers. Ayrton Senna, Gerhard Berger, Mika Hakkinen, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. 

Button was the most recent, and with the 2025 season potentially developing into an intra-team battle between the two papaya cars, Suzuka is a fantastic venue to put the title fight under the microscope. A McLaren battle? In Japan? Where have we seen that before?