MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) 鈥 Oliver Bearman considers the Miami Grand Prix a highlight on the F1 calendar for many reasons: The sunny South Florida weather. The fanfare. It’s the first of three United States races for his American-led Haas Formula 1 team.
But Bearman, Haas’ 19-year-old rookie who will be racing at the Miami International Autodrome for the first time on Sunday, acknowledged that it will be a challenge for his team.
鈥淚 expect a difficult weekend,鈥 Bearman said, 鈥渃onsidering the circumstances, particularly that I haven鈥檛 been here and it鈥檚 a Sprint weekend. But I also had that in Brazil last year. I also had that in China this year. And I wouldn鈥檛 say those are particularly simple shots either. I don鈥檛 really know how it鈥檚 going to go, but I expect that if I have a good feeling with the car, I hope to be able to get as much as I can out of it.鈥
The Miami Grand Prix is the first opportunity of the season for Haas 鈥 the only American-owned team in F1 鈥 to compete in front of its home fans, but the weekend got off to an uneven start.
Bearman, in his first ever action at the track, caused an early end to Friday鈥檚 practice with a crash, and his teammate, Esteban Ocon, was given a warning for impeding McLaren鈥檚 Lando Norris during the session.
In Saturday’s Sprint race in Miami, Bearman started at the back of the grid but zipped through the field for what would have been an eighth-place finish and a point for Haas, but he was hit with a five-second penalty after the race for an unsafe release and stripped of the point. That was followed by a disappointing showing in qualifying later that evening, where the British driver again finished last in the field.
鈥淚 don’t know (what happened),” Bearman said afterward. “Just didn’t have the feeling. Too messy of a lap. ... It was a messy session overall.”
Still, Haas will have a good chance at scoring points on Sunday. Ocon qualified ninth in his first top-10 qualifier since joining Haas this season. He said it was his best qualifying session of the year, but the team still has work to do after Bearman’s surprising outing.
鈥淭his is what we need to work on, our consistency,鈥 Ocon said. 鈥淭he window of our car is really, really small. And even though you try and put the cars together in the same setup, we still see big differences in those cars. We need to work on that.鈥
Mostly inconsistent since its debut season in 2016, Haas improved its on-track performance the past year under Ayao Komatsu, longtime team principal Guenther Steiner for a change of direction after several dismal seasons.
Haas finished seventh in the constructor standings in 2024 with 58 points, its best result since finishing fifth with 98 points behind drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen in 2018, and up from a last-place finish in 2023.
Haas still has never won an F1 race or scored a podium finish, but there is excitement about its trajectory behind the new lineup of Bearman, the prodigy who raced as a substitute for Ferrari last year before joining Haas as a fulltime driver, and Ocon, winner of the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix with Alpine and the only Grand Prix winner to race for Haas.
鈥淓steban and Ollie have been instrumental in providing direction and working with the team every day,” Komatsu said, “not to mention some of the incredible race drives they鈥檝e produced already.鈥
In a busy start to the 2025 season with five races in six weeks, Haas has placed in the top eight in three races and is currently sixth in standings with 20 points. Bearman has accounted for 13 points. He and Ocon jointly accumulated 14 points at the Chinese Grand Prix in late March, when disqualifications boosted Ocon from his seventh-place finish to fifth and Bearman from 10th to eighth.
Bearman has already established himself as a solid points scorer for Haas as the team continues its climb. His season debut at the Australian Grand Prix was spoiled by a crash, but the British driver grabbed points in three straight races after that.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a super quick driver,鈥 Ocon said of his teammate. 鈥淪uper talented, very professional, very detailed on the car set up. I think that鈥檚 straight away the thing I saw (at first). Technically, he鈥檚 above any rookies that I鈥檝e seen in the past. He鈥檚 much more prepared than I was when I arrived in F1.鈥
Ocon has taken points finishes in all three of his races in Miami, with his best coming at the inaugural race in 2022 when finished eighth. Sunday will be his first Miami race with Haas.
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