After a 10-place grid penalty for overtaking under a red flag during FP2, Ollie Bearman walked away from the F1 Monaco GP with satisfaction, positives, and a P12 result.
From starting at the back of the grid to finishing just outside the points, Bearman remains “proud” of his performance during the Monaco GP despite the penalty that hindered a real chance of fighting for points.
“Yeah, I mean, in terms of possible performance, it was a really good weekend.
“I performed at a very high level, in my opinion, like I did in Imola. So I’m proud of myself.
“And I think the team have also done an excellent job this weekend. You know, it’s been a tough one with this 10-place penalty, which unfortunately hindered our weekend. It meant that today the maximum we could have done was P12.
“But I’m really excited to get to Barcelona, and hopefully we can have a representative weekend with what we’ve been showing, or maybe hiding, in a way, these past two weekends,” he stated.
Thoughts on the first lap pit stop strategy
Bearman’s successful drive was supported by the bold lap one pit stop.
A strategy opted by multiple teams to meet the newly introduced two-stop criteria for the weekend.
The Haas driver stated that making a pit stop on lap one was “always part of our plan”.
Although the stop was much slower expected, he was able to rejoin the race and perform at his best thanks to the car’s strong pace.
Positives on race pace
Bearman’s race pace in clean air was one of the positives in the midfield, allowing him to maintain his sector times within half a second of the top ten.
The driver noted that clean air improved his performance in Imola.
“Even if you look at the pace in clear air in Imola, it was quite good.”
Focus on Barcelona
Given the positives with the car and pace, Bearman remains confident going into Barcelona.
Hoping to unleash the car’s true potential with the hopes of having an uninterrupted performance.
“I’m really excited to get to Barcelona.
“I just want to have a normal weekend now,” he said in the print media pen.
Bearman also praised his teammate Esteban Ocon for achieving a P7 finish. He highlighted that the Frenchman Ocon performed exceptionally well and showed what the car is capable of, although he thinks he could have joined him in the points.
“Yeah, I mean, I think I’m almost certain there were points there this weekend. If I look at my performance, there was clearly pace in the car. No doubt about that.
“Of course, very happy to see Esteban scoring points in a race that was a bit more difficult. The weekend was more difficult on my side of the garage, but Esteban showed that there’s pace in the car, and there’s a lot of pace in the car, so that’s good.”
