By 
Haas began the season brightly, with Oliver Bearman scoring the pick of the team’s results. Although their season has become more challenging since then, their second-year driver has consistently had the upper hand – with the possible exception of the final round.
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The Ferrari customer team looked on course for great things after Bearman placed seventh in the season-opener and followed it up with a brilliant drive to fifth in Shanghai. The team reached the unfamiliar heights of fourth in the constructors’ championship ahead of Red Bull.
That obviously wasn’t going to last, and sure enough it didn’t. But Bearman’s emergence as the team’s new force ahead of his more experienced team mate came as less of a shock.
During their first season together last year, Bearman got on terms with his team mate before the halfway point. By the end of the year he narrowly out-scored Ocon and sustained that run into their second year together.
As Haas could not match their rivals’ development rate over the opening rounds they quickly fell from regular points-scorers to Q1 strugglers. Bearman has generally maintained his advantage over Ocon, even accounting for some conspicuously poor luck on the latter’s part at times. Ocon’s travails prompted lurid speculation over his future at one stage, which team principal Ayao Komatsu strenuously dismissed.
However Bearman’s strong start to the season came to an unsatisfactory end in Hungary. Having sat out the first practice session he never got comfortable with the VF-26 from then on and Ocon led the way. It remains to be seen whether that is the sign of a coming shift in the balance of power at the team or just a one-off.
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| AUS | CHI | JAP | MIA | CAN | MON | SPA | AUT | GBR | BEL | HUN | ||
| Bearman | Q | |||||||||||
| R |
Unrepresentative comparisons omitted. Negative value: Bearman was faster; Positive value: Ocon was faster
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