BEARMAN RELIED ON HAMILTON’S FAIR RACING IN THEIR DUEL
Oliver Bearman scored points for Haas in his second race of 2024 after battling with Mercedes legend Lewis Hamilton until the final lap. The Haas driver said he trusted Hamilton not to push him into the wall during their late-race battle in the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Bearman held Hamilton off for 23 laps in the second half of the race, with both drivers moving into points-scoring positions after Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz crashed on the penultimate lap. As the final 10 laps began, Bearman was chasing Franco Colapinto’s Williams, and Hamilton finally made his move into Turn 1, overtaking his young compatriot.
When asked about Hamilton’s move, Bearman said, “When someone goes around the outside, you know they’re going to leave you space, which is a nice feeling.”
“Like in Turn 1, I knew he wouldn’t squeeze me into the wall, which is something I’m a little less sure about with some other drivers.”
“It’s a nice feeling, and racing with him is always very clean but tough,” he said.
Bearman had pitted just ahead of Hamilton, and the gap between them was small.
“I really pushed hard for a few laps trying to pass Franco, and my tires were starting to overheat.”
“At that point, he [Hamilton] just pounced and was able to pass me easily.”
“After that, I needed a few laps and almost caught him again, nearly regaining DRS.”
“It was frustrating to let him pass, but when you have a guy like that behind you, you can’t make small mistakes,” Bearman said.
Following the Perez/Sainz crash, Bearman and Hamilton both passed Nico Hulkenberg. Hulkenberg was worried about the damage to his car after driving over debris from the crash. He later brushed the wall approaching Turn 15, fearing damage to his tire. These incidents caused the German driver to lose extra positions in the closing moments of the race.
Bearman said, “The green flags came back out, and with Lewis, I managed to catch him [Hulkenberg].”
“It was an overtake. I feel sorry for him. He also had the issue of losing his position to Franco, but I’m happy to have scored points.”
Bearman, who had previously replaced Carlos Sainz at Ferrari and finished seventh in Jeddah, described this achievement as “definitely amazing.”
“It was a tough race. I wasn’t in a points-scoring position until the crash up front.”
“The car was really quick, and honestly, so was I, but I lost a lot of time in the first stint because I wasn’t pushing enough. I was saving the tires too much, and it wasn’t really necessary.”
“I took too much from my experience in FP2 into the race, but the track is so different in the race that you almost have to forget those long runs and start fresh. I put it down to experience,” he added.
