Oliver Bearman left Bahrain convinced Haas had thrown away a genuine chance of points after overruling his preferred tyre strategy at the start of the race and sending him onto slicks, which quickly exposed the ill-fated gamble.
The Briton had been adamant that intermediate tyres were the right choice for the wet conditions at Sepang, only to discover at the last moment that Haas had changed its mind.
With teammate Esteban Ocon starting behind him on inters, the team had clearly opted to split its strategy. But instead of exploiting what he felt was a genuinely competitive VF-26, Bearman spent the opening phase losing ground and ultimately finished 14th, one place ahead of Ocon.
Bearman feels ‘hard done by’
Bearman said the race started well mechanically, but his mood changed quickly once he realized Haas had ignored his preferred tyre choice.
“My throttle pedal worked, which was a good start, but I ended up on slicks, and that was the wrong choice,” Bearman told reporters.
“It wasn't my choice. I was adamant that we start on inters, and there was a zero percent chance that we would put the slick, but the team decided to put me on the slick at the last minute, which I didn't know about.
©Haas
“Obviously, the decision was made to split the cars from strategy. I didn't agree with it, and in hindsight, I still don't agree with it. However, if it worked, we would have looked like heroes, so I'm not blaming anyone; it's just one of those things.”
Bearman’s wasn’t accusing Haas of recklessness so much as questioning why the risk had been assigned to the car running ahead.
“However, being the lead car at that point – I was ahead of Esteban – I feel a bit hard done by to be given the riskier strategy, because normally, the lead car should be given the strategy that's a bit more normal, and the gamble should be taken with the second car.
“I felt like I was the one who took the gamble, and after the first safety car, I didn't even catch them back up. I ended up 40 seconds behind the midfield.”
A missed opportunity
Bearman’s frustration intensified because he genuinely believed that Haas had the pace to make the most of the unusual conditions.
Once the track evolved and he had the right rubber beneath him, his performance suggested that his car was indeed capable of far more than P14.
“I was still super quick,” he insisted. “I had great pace on the hard, managed to overtake the Alpine and pull away, and it was just a shame because I felt like that decision to start me on the soft totally screwed my race.
“I lost so much race time, I couldn't do anything about it.
©Haas
“On that side, I'm really sad because the car was quick. I think the conditions played into our hands today with the weather being a bit cooler, but I really feel like that was a chance of points or fighting for points today. So yeah, it's a shame.”
For Bearman, the sting was not simply finishing 14th. It was knowing that his VF-26 had shown enough pace to make the points a realistic target – and that the decision to put him on slicks had effectively taken that opportunity away before the race had properly begun.
Read also: F1i Driver Ratings for the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix
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