How strategy played into Haas’ incredibly successful Bahrain weekend

While the previous week’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka was very much a qualifying race, Bahrain’s high degradation contest offered a better spectacle and with it more opportunities for midfield teams to make something happen.

And only just as well, as Haas started on the backfoot with a crash for Esteban Ocon in Q2 which prevented him from starting higher than 14th. His rookie team-mate Oliver Bearman, meanwhile, struggled with locking the front tyres leaving him bereft of confidence on a qualifying lap, and last on the grid.

But with the bit between its teeth, Haas went aggressive on strategy. Using the powerful undercut, Ocon pitted as early as lap 8 for mediums, allowing him to cycle through to the top 10, leapfrogging the likes of Jack Doohan, Yuki Tsunoda and even Max Verstappen, easily holding the world champion behind as he struggled for pace on hard tyres.

But Ocon’s early first stop meant he would pay a price later, pitting on lap 27 for hard rubber which he would have to nurse until the end. A safety car handing rivals the opportunity to pit and slot in behind didn’t help, either.

“With Esteban, the issue was we were on the hard tyre,” team boss Ayao Komatsu told Motorsport.com. “That was going to be a difficult one, but we couldn’t pit under that safety car, no way. So, we just had to make it work.

“A medium or soft would have been better at that point, for sure. But we already made the decision, so there’s no point. We just had to do our best.”

But while powerless to keep medium runner Verstappen behind, Ocon held firm to grab eighth and add four points to his tally.

In the other car, the seas opened for Bearman at the start, vaulting him up to 15th before he also battled past medium-tyre runner Fernando Alonso.

Bearman did still have to pit when the safety car came out on lap 32, and switched to soft for an aggressive final stint in which he muscled his way past the ailing Williams of Carlos Sainz and Doohan to snatch the final point.

The double points finish bumped Haas up to fifth in the championship with 20 points, which left Komatsu highly emotional.

“It’s just a whole team effort,” he beamed. “Mainly, other than the safety car, which you cannot control, we put on the right tyres at the right time and then we undercut people. Everything was amazing.

“And Ollie, scoring points from P20 to score points was amazing. I’m speechless. I always believed we could make it happen. We just have to do it, that’s all.”

Komatsu was especially pleased for Bearman, who scored points for a third consecutive weekend after an uncharacteristically messy opening weekend in Australia.

“Yeah, but that’s the Ollie we know,” he said. “That’s the Ollie I expected. He’s a great guy. It’s not just talent; it’s just the whole work ethic and everything. He’s such an amazing guy to be around.”

The Japanese team boss cautioned that, despite a tweaked floor for Japan, Haas still isn’t out of the woods yet with its car’s aerodynamic oscillations that cropped up in Melbourne and were less of a factor in Bahrain.

“Yes and no. We didn’t see the fundamental aero issue here in pre-season testing,” he explained. “So far, Melbourne was the worst track by far. Then we improved the car for Suzuka and here we still had some issues, but we got this performance.

“It was just amazing to be fighting against Mercedes and Red Bull. They’re championship winning teams. I’m still soaking it in.”