F1 Chinese GP | Haas confident after Shanghai qualifying: Bearman in Q3, Ocon held back by a yellow flag

Busy day for the Haas on the Shanghai track where the American team collected positive indications both in the Sprint and in the qualifying of the Chinese Grand Prix, the second seasonal round of the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship. Between strategies, tyre degradation and yellow flags, the balance of the team led by Ayao Komatsu It remains encouraging in view of Sunday's race.

The protagonist of the day was undoubtedly Oliver Bearman, with the English driver delivering a solid performance that allowed him to score a point in the Sprint and access Q3 in qualifying, setting the 10th fastest time.

The young Briton explained how tire management played a crucial role in the morning's short race: "With the medium tire, degradation was really high in the Sprint, and honestly, when the Safety Car came out, I thought it was all over," Bearman said. "There were two or three drivers on the hard compound who were flying." Bearman then continued: "I actually managed to regain some grip and pace, and after the restart, I managed to hold my ground all the way to eighth place. I'm very happy to have brought another point to the team."

The Haas driver number 87 also expressed satisfaction with his qualifying performance, despite some difficulties on the decisive lap of Q3: “Overall, I'm happy with qualifying; we had good pace. In the end, we weren't able to make the final step in terms of lap times in Q3. The more I tried to push to the limit, the more the car's balance changed, and I struggled a bit to extract the maximum. However, being in Q3 is encouraging, and I'm quite confident for the race.”

The session is more complicated for Esteban Ocon, who was unable to improve at the crucial moment due to a yellow flag on the final lap of Q2, finishing 13th. The Frenchman nevertheless highlighted the positive aspects of the day, starting with the morning's Sprint.

"Overall, it was a pretty positive Sprint," Ocon emphasized. "We managed to gain track positions, which was very good. We only lost out to those who chose a different strategy with the Safety Car." His biggest disappointment, however, was qualifying: "On the final lap, a yellow flag came out, and unfortunately, we couldn't improve," the Frenchman continued. "I was going faster before the safety car, so the result wasn't optimal at all. There's definitely still potential in the car, but we hope to be able to make up positions in the race like we did in the Sprint."

Even the team principal Ayao Komatsu He gave a positive assessment of the day: “Finishing in the top eight in the Sprint was a really great result. We raced really well. The hard tyre clearly proved to be better than average in terms of graining, but in the end we were beaten only by Lawson among those on that compound. Considering that the top teams were ahead, it was a great performance.”

Looking back at qualifying, Komatsu highlighted both the car's potential and Ocon's bad luck: "We knew we had a good car again and focused on a clean session, which I think we did. Esteban was really unlucky with the yellow flag in Q2. As for Ollie, I think he had the potential to beat both Red Bulls in Q3."

The goal for the race is clear: to confirm the competitiveness shown on the track so far: “Our goal for tomorrow is to get both cars into the top 10. I believe we have the speed and ability to do so,” concluded Komatsu.