The positive momentum for Haas continues at the start of this 2026 season, and especially for Oliver Bearman. Fresh from 7° place in the first race of the world championship in Australia, the Briton has once again secured a top-ten finish, this time during the Sprint qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix. The 20-year-old will start tomorrow’s Asian Sprint in ninth position, behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and ahead of the other Milton Keynes car occupied by Isack Hadjar.
A weekend that opened with good signs for Haas, just as confirmed by Bearman in the first words spoken after qualifying, which were nonetheless not simple to face: “We showed great pace from the first lap of FP1 and we managed to improve it – he stated – it was a difficult session, the setup was a bit precarious and it was complicated to put together a perfect lap, but in the end we did it and I am happy with today’s ninth place. I am quite impressed and surprised by the gap to the leaders, which seems to have narrowed compared to last week. Before this weekend, I didn’t expect to be fighting for the top eight positions because we expected the top four teams to be much further ahead, but in the end it wasn’t like that. It seems that if we do everything right tomorrow, we can score some points.”
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On the hunt for the points zone instead is Esteban Ocon, never reached in Australia nor in the early stages of the Chinese GP, with the 12° place obtained in Sprint qualifying: “We are working hard to bring the car to the desired level. The feelings improved from FP1 to Sprint Qualifying, but there are still some things we need to analyze to improve it for tomorrow. The potential is there and our understanding of the car is now quite high, so we hope we can solve the problems and get the most out of it.”
