‘We deserved more’ – Ocon reflects on collision with Bearman in ‘extremely frustrating’ British GP

Haas drivers Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman were both left frustrated at the end of the British Grand Prix, with Ocon admitting that he felt both he and his team mate “deserved more” on a day in which they collided during the latter stages.

It was an eventful afternoon for Ocon, the Frenchman – who started from P14 – having been squeezed at the start of the race by Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and the Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda before he then made contact with Lawson.

While he was able to continue, Ocon again suffered a collision later on, this time with the other Haas car of Bearman. Both cars spun around on the track and, while each still made it to the finish, neither driver scored points, with Bearman only just missing out in 11th while Ocon classified in 13th.

“It was an extremely frustrating race, for sure,” Ocon conceded after the Grand Prix, which played out in mixed weather conditions.

“From the beginning really I was unfortunately in the middle of two cars, so I saw there was going to be a contact and at the moment I realised that this was happening I try and back off.

“But, yeah, at the moment that this happened I think Liam… basically there was no space for three cars, so I backed off and he took all the energy of the hit, so I’m glad he was okay.

“[It’s] a miracle that my car was alright after that, and after [that] we did all the right choices until we didn’t box for a new set of inter[mediate tyres] really. That slipped through our hands, and it’s not usually something that happens to me. [I’m] pretty p****d off about the race overall.

“The thing that happened with Ollie at the end, I’m sad about the situation, sad for the team because we deserved, me and him, more today. We deserved to be in the points, both of us, from where we came from. We will review to improve on those, and not do these kind of mistakes.”

It also proved to be challenging maiden home event in F1 for Bearman. The British driver started from P18 – having been handed a 10-place grid penalty for a red flag infringement in final practice – and was one of several drivers to gamble on pitting for slick tyres at the end of the Formation Lap.

From there it was a tricky race for Bearman, who was involved in a collision with Tsunoda – for which the Red Bull driver received a 10-second time penalty – before then making contact with Ocon later on. Amidst all of this, the 20-year-old was left disappointed to not come away with points.

“It was a tough race,” Bearman explained. “A few wrong decisions, particularly from my side. Switching to the slick in the early laps was in hindsight not the right call with the rain which was coming, and [I was] losing a lot of time in the race.

“I got tapped around at one stage. That slick lost me so much time, but still we were P11 and fighting for the points so it’s a real shame. The car has been so fast today and this weekend, and it’s a shame really not to come away with anything.

“It’s tough conditions with only one line. [I] couldn’t overtake [George] Russell in the end and it was a tough race.”

When quizzed on what he would take away from his first British Grand Prix, Bearman answered: “Definitely a lot. The car has been really fast so that’s positive, and I feel really positive about the car balance and the step that the car has taken. I’ve had a lot of confidence in it, so I think we can take a lot away from this weekend.”