Oliver Bearman don’t think talking to Yuki Tsunoda will make any amends after their run-in in F1 US GP, as Laurent Mekies notes that double points is still not good enough.
After a good start in F1 sprint race in US GP, Red Bull’s Tsunoda followed it up with another good one in the main race to move up to 10th after Lap 1. He was able to clear Haas’ Bearman and eventually moved up to seventh after the collision between Carlos Sainz and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
He stretched out a decent lead but it was cut down after a slow pit stop. Bearman managed to put in some good laps to catch him and hustle hard to overtake. He eventually went for a move at Turn 15, but Tsunoda closed the door at last moment which sent the Brit into a spin.
There was no contact but the situation looked clumsy after movement from Tsunoda just the apex. The Japanese seemed to be in two minds about defending the inside line. But it was too late as Bearman had already committed to the move, which sent into a spin.
He complained of movement under braking, but there was no investigation. The Brit then lost a place to Nico Hulkenberg to finish ninth, while Tsunoda was seventh. Post-race, the Haas driver shared his frustration, citing it as a ‘dangerous’ move and one which is not a good show for kids watching.
He noted that Tsunoda was driving desperately which was not new to Bearman. He doesn’t think talking to him will solve anything as he knows that the Japanese driver won’t change. “I mean, on one side I’m happy to be disappointed,” said the Brit to media. “It’s a bit of a cliche, but to be P9, scoring two points for the second weekend in a row, but to be disappointed about that is a good thing, because it shows that we have more potential.
“And out there today, I think P7 was not an unrealistic result out there. I had a bit of difficult first stint but I really started to find a groove coming into the second one and regarding the incident with Yuki, I felt like what he did was very dangerous, against the spirit of how we should go racing and against the image that we should project to kids growing up. This is not the way we go racing.
“He was swathing all over the place for a few laps and when I finally did stick my nose in and attempt the move, he moved in reaction, didn’t leave a car’s width of track and that’s unfair. That’s not allowed and that caused me to avoid. It could have caused a huge crash, honestly, without my quick avoidance so it’s a big shame. It shouldn’t be allowed. And although maybe it’s in a grey area of the regulations, but moving in the braking zone is not fair.
“It’s dangerous, and it causes big crashes like this. We’ve seen it numerous times. But I’ve also seen the way Yuki has been driving this weekend. In the Sprint race, he sent it up the inside in Turn 1 and took out his sister car in the main race. He did the same thing in Turn 1 again. So I feel like driving maybe a little bit desperate, and that was shown in his defence. He went left in the braking.
“That was the space when I committed and there wasn’t once I was getting closer, he braked. Of course, it is not a typical corner, it is not a straight entery but he was also moving into Turn 12 into Turn 13, so it’s not like that was his excuse. I was going through the dirt and everything, I had no battery left while attacking Yuki, that was my chance to overtake him. I felt like Nico had bit more pace at the end of the stint, but also without that incident, I would have at least finished eighth if not seventh because I had more pace than Yuki,” summed up Bearman.
When pressed about talks with Tsunoda, the Brit was quick to put down while noting about him having issues with other drivers on the grid. He also stated that the defence put by him on Charles Leclerc was a bit too much as well. “No, but I feel like he has this issue with other drivers,” continued Bearman.
“And even he was fighting against Charles, who is not even in the race with him, like, why are you defending from him? It just seems silly. He is not thinking forward, silly driving in my opinion. No [I don’t want to talk to him] because I don’t think he will change.”
For Tsunoda, he was pleased to make a good start again and score handy points, even though he was quite the way off from teammate Max Verstappen. He felt it was a racing incident with Bearman, much like Red Bull chief Mekies. “The start was good, the first few laps, had really-really good pace, able to gain some positions which was good,” he said to media.
“After that pace was okay reasonably, I think second stint I did a better job than that but overall it was good. I don’t know, I had extra confidence on the track. I had a good feeling from sprint, and in the main race, obviously, I was on the different side of the start but I was able to replicate similar as what I did in sprint. With Bearman, that’s racing, right?
“I was fully in control, I didn’t have any lockups, and I was literally side by side. I’m not his teammate, I’m just fighting to be in the top 10 or more so yeah, I thought that was OK. I don’t think I moved under braking. just a bit unfortunate how we ended up in that race like that, especially as we were having a good fight until then,” summed up Tsunoda.
Meanwhile, Mekies added: “I didn’t look at the data. I saw it live like you and with all due respect to everyone involved. I don’t think there was an incident there. I think it was two guys battling. Austin has that great characteristic where you see on several corners quite a few different racing lines that you can have to attack or to defend.
“And I think if you look back last year on similar corners, you had a few drivers using that to defend. And I think that’s what happened. I’m sorry that Ollie had to go off track there, but I don’t think there was anything controversial about it.”
Aside the incident, Mekies had more to say on Tsunoda’s performance and how he can help in securing second in the constructors’ championship, while also trying to help take away points from Verstappen’s rivals in the Dutchman’s attempt to turnaround his season and defend his F1 title.
A faster Tsunoda is certainly a help, but Mekies agrees that it is still not enough since the Japanese driver finished nearly a minute down on Verstappen. In fact, his days seems to be numbered considering the notion of a promotion of Isack Hadjar to Red Bull seat in 2026.
“I think there is a role,” said Mekies to media. “A) Because there is still a Constructors’ Championship discussion. Obviously not for the win, but for other aspects. So we need a quick response. And B), the faster Yuki is, the more we can split the test across the car. We told you a couple of times this weekend, we test this with that car, we test this with the other car.
“So it’s important for us to have a very fast Yuki. And in terms of sporting situations and battling and strategy, it is also possible that with Yuki picking up, we can at some stage be in a position where we battle two against two. We always want more. I’m not going to tell you that, it’s good enough because you are right in putting your numbers. I’m not going to tell you that it’s good enough.
“Nobody feels like that. Yuki doesn’t feel like that. All I’m saying is that it’s two races in the points. It’s two very good starts, two very good first laps. And it’s a progression compared to what has been shown so far this year. Is it good enough? No, I would lie if I was telling you that. And more so, Yuki would not be happy if I was telling him it’s good enough,” summed up Mekies.
Here’s Max Verstappen on US GP and title chance
