Bearman says Haas is wasting chances in tight fight with Audi

Oliver Bearman said Haas was “giving it away” in the fight with Audi for seventh in the constructors’ championship after a 20-second pit stop left him 17th at the rain-affected São Paulo Grand Prix.

Bearman had been running in the top 10 before his first stop on lap 16, when he switched from intermediates to slicks. He said the stop cost him time, dropped him to 10th and left him behind Carlos Sainz and several others. He later overtook a few cars.

His criticism was aimed at the stops, not the strategy calls. Bearman said Haas communicated well and brought him in on the correct laps, but both stops were very slow, especially the first. He described being stationary in the pit lane for 20 seconds as “game over.”

Bearman said he had been ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton as the track dried, although he said the Ferrari pair were much faster at that point. Haas also received a five-second penalty for an unsafe release into Leclerc’s path during Bearman’s final tyre change.

Haas were only three points ahead of Audi in the fight for seventh. Bearman said there was a lot of pressure in the contest and that the team needed to understand why it was losing opportunities.