Friday at the Marina Bay Street Circuit was far from straightforward, with high humidity, soaring track temperatures, and multiple red flag interruptions shaping the first two practice sessions weekend. Yet despite the stop-start nature of the day, MoneyGram Haas F1 Team drivers Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman both left the paddock upbeat about their progress after FP1 and FP2 at the 2025 F1 Singapore GP.
Ocon enjoys Haas’ “best Friday of the year”
Esteban Ocon was quick to praise the team’s efforts after enjoying what he described as their most competitive opening day of the season. The Frenchman looked comfortable in both sessions and highlighted the car’s strong balance and grip around the punishing street circuit.
“Yeah it’s been a very solid day, very happy with it. Probably the best Friday of the year for us but we need to wait and see, because, obviously, we need to keep chasing that decent balance, the good grip we had,” Ocon explained.
However, he was also realistic about how quickly fortunes can change overnight in Formula 1. Reliability adjustments often lead to set-up compromises, something he is keen to avoid.
“Normally, you know, there’s a lot of things that change overnight on the car for reliability purpose and stuff. So that’s going to be the job of the engineers tonight in trying to keep the maximum of what we had today and just do like small changes ahead of tomorrow.”
When asked whether he wanted to keep the car as it was, Ocon admitted: “Basically yes. But it’s not a given that the conditions will be similar. You never know in F1, one millimetre here, two millimetres there, I can change the whole world so we’ll see.”
Like most of the field, Ocon was unable to run meaningful race simulations. “No I don’t think anyone did, some people did in FP1 but not much. We had five laps this morning, that’s it,” he said, noting the added level of uncertainty going into Friday action.
Bearman settles in and gains confidence
Alongside Ocon, rookie team-mate Oliver Bearman continued his adaptation to one of Formula 1’s most demanding circuits. The Briton admitted that FP1 was a steep learning curve but felt he had made significant progress by the evening.
“Yeah, the car seems quick; we had a good day. FP1 was a bit more difficult for myself, you know learning the track. This time, I felt like I had a bit more rhythm in FP2 and could extract a bit more lap time out of the car, so it was a good day overall,” Bearman reflected.
However, the repeated red flag interruptions limited his running, particularly on higher fuel. “Yeah, it was tough. Obviously, it would have been nice to get some high fuel [runs] in, but even to have a less interrupted low-fuel run. I’m still finding my rhythm, and it’s tough when there’s so many stoppages but you know everyone’s in the same boat.”
With overtaking notoriously difficult in Singapore, qualifying performance is often decisive. Bearman confirmed that Haas, like many others, abandoned race simulations after the final stoppage.
“Exactly, of course, when that final red flag came out and we had 15-16 minutes to go it was clear to can the high fuel [runs] and just focus on quali. It seemed like the right call, and everyone was doing that so I think we didn’t learn a lot about high fuel but like you say it’s really important to qualify well here.”
Momentum for Haas before the weekend intensifies
Despite the challenges, both Ocon and Bearman were pleased with Haas F1 Teams’ start to the 2025 F1 Singapore GP weekend. Ocon hailed the balance as the best he has experienced all season, while Bearman grew in confidence and rhythm on his debut around the Marina Bay streets.
Still, the true test lies ahead. Qualifying in Singapore is often the most decisive of the year, and with both Haas drivers sounding optimistic, Saturday could provide an important opportunity for the American team to underline its progress.
