The Haas F1 Team had reason to celebrate at Spa-Francorchamps as both Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman advanced to SQ3 during Sprint Qualifying for the 2025 F1 Belgian GP. The result marked the team’s first double top-10 appearance in a Sprint Qualifying session this season, as the American outfit capitalised on strong pace, effective tyre strategy, and a significant aerodynamic upgrade package introduced earlier in the month.
Ocon led the charge with a stellar final lap in SQ2 that saw him provisionally jump up to third place before eventually securing P5 on the grid for Saturday’s Sprint. Bearman, who had a deleted lap time in SQ1 and came under review for a potential yellow flag infringement, rebounded to qualify seventh—completing a rare double-Q3 showing for the team.
Ocon: From Silverstone struggles to Spa success
Ocon was full of praise for the team’s efforts in transforming the car’s performance following a tough outing at Silverstone.
“Yeah, it was awesome. Awesome. Really, really happy and well done to the whole team,” he said, while speaking in the TV pen after the session. “I think we had two weeks to really try and find out exactly what went wrong in Silverstone. You know, the car was really difficult to drive in Silverstone, even with the update that went in the right direction. But I think today we transformed the car and the car felt really, really good.”
Haas introduced a major upgrade package at the British GP that appeared to deliver immediate benefits, with Bearman securing a Q3 appearance there as well. However, performance remained inconsistent across various circuit types, making the outcome at Spa all the more encouraging. Ocon noted that the result marked a season milestone.
“So, yeah, it definitely feels amazing also to have both cars in Q3. I think that’s our first one of the year,” he remarked. “Obviously, it’s only a Sprint so, you know, we need to take care and redo it again tomorrow when it matters for the GP. So, we’ll give it all and it’s looking promising, but nothing has been scored yet.”
Finding pace after a poor FP1 showing
Friday at the 2025 F1 Belgian GP did not get off to the best start for Haas, with both Ocon and Bearman finishing the weekend’s only Free Practice session outside the top 15. However, despite his lowly result in the earlier session, the French driver insisted that the car felt stronger than the timing sheets suggested.
“No, it looked good,” he said, when asked about his VF-25’s performance in the Friday Free Practice session.
“Unfortunately, I got traffic in both of my laps. So I got like half a second in hand in that, you know, Practice 1,” he explained. “So, we knew we had something to play for. Maybe not that good. We knew it was going to be on the edge of getting to Q3. But yeah, today was a good effort.”
Despite several quick cars lining up ahead for the Sprint, including both McLarens, Max Verstappen, and Charles Leclerc, Ocon believes the team can hold position—pointing to a surprising strength in straight-line speed.
“We’ll see. I mean, I think we can fight. I think we are the quickest in the straight line this weekend,” he said. “So it’s a good surprise as well from the slowest to the quickest. So, yeah, really happy. I think the team did an amazing job.”
Bearman: Tyre strategy key for 2025 F1 Belgian GP weekend
Oliver Bearman delivered a composed and confident performance under pressure, recovering well from a tricky start in SQ1. Despite struggling to put an early lap together on the soft compound tyres, the young Briton managed to piece together a strong final effort to advance. While pleased with his performance, however, he admitted that he had been confident going into Qualifying, knowing the pace potential of his VF-25.
“Yeah, I would say we had the choice of using the hard and the soft [compound tyres] or the medium and the soft and we decided for the medium just because with that extra stepping compound between the hard and the medium it seemed like, at least for me, Quali preparation would become then quite difficult,” he explained. “So definitely being on the medium helped, but honestly, I had a very good feeling from Free Practice. I didn’t quite string a lap together on the soft in Free Practice, but I knew that was pacing the car.”
Team synergy amid building momentum
The 20-year-old British driver took particular pride in Haas’s collective performance, emphasising the shared success of both cars reaching Q3. “But I’m so happy for everyone, you know, it’s such a great team effort to beat two cars in Q3. Esteban did a great job and it’s just really, really nice.”
Bearman also highlighted the significance of the team’s upgrade path and its strategic use of limited resources. “Exactly, exactly. We bought a new upgrade in Silverstone and, you know, we were in Q3 in Silverstone. Now here it seems like we have good pace again, so I hope we can keep that up.”
Looking ahead to the Sprint
After such a strong session, both Haas drivers will start inside the top eight for the 2025 F1 Belgian GP Sprint, giving the team a golden chance to score valuable points in a tightly contested midfield battle. Reliability and tyre degradation will remain key variables in Saturday’s race, especially around the high-speed, variable-condition nature of Spa.
As the focus now shifts to the Sprint and Grand Prix sessions, Haas will be determined to convert this encouraging qualifying performance into tangible results. The evidence from Friday’s running suggests they may have the tools to do so.
