AUSTIN, Texas — The fight at the front drew most of the attention during the United States Grand Prix, but in the closing stages of Sunday’s race, a top-ten battle between Yuki Tsunoda and Oliver Bearman left the Haas driver quite frustrated in the post-race media.
The two drivers were battling for seventh position when Bearman attempted to make a move on the inside of Tsunoda at Turn 15. The Red Bull driver attempted to close the door on Bearman, forcing the Haas rookie to slide off the racing line into the gravel to avoid a collision.
Bearman currently has ten penalty points on his FIA Super License, two short of a one-race ban.
The Haas driver immediately told his team over the radio that Tsunoda “moved under braking”, and when speaking to the media after the race, Bearman stated that Tsunoda’s move was against the “spirit” of racing.
“What he did was very dangerous, against the spirit of the regulations and against the spirit of racing, in fact,” Bearman told media, including SB Nationafter the race.
“That’s not how we grow up racing, that’s not how we race at this level. It’s not the way we want to teach people watching, little kids, how we should race because we should not move in reaction to other cars, and that’s what I felt like he did,” Bearman continued.
“Although I avoided a crash, I lost two positions, so it’s a big shame. It’s disappointing because there was a chance for more today, at least eighth, if not seventh, because I clearly had more pace than him on that stage.”
“He was wandering around for a few laps, and when I finally stuck my nose in and tried to move, he moved in reaction and didn’t leave a car’s width of the track,” Bearman added.
“And that’s unfair. That’s not allowed, and that made me avoid it. Honestly, it could have caused a big accident without my quick avoidance.”
Later in his session, Bearman offered a possible explanation for Tsunoda’s driving.
“I feel like he’s been making these desperate moves. In the sprint race he was bombing on the inside, same thing in the main race in turn one. So there’s a lot of risk, and I probably should have left a little more room for that type of driving,” Bearman continued.
“I feel like he has this problem with other drivers, and you know, even he was fighting Charles [Leclerc] that is not even in the race with him. Why are you defensive of him?
“It seems silly. He’s just not thinking ahead.”
The stewards did not investigate the incident and, for his part, Tsunoda declared that he had done nothing wrong.
“I don’t think he did anything extremely wrong,” Tsunoda said.
“I have to check from your point of view on board, obviously how we ended up is unfortunate. We were fighting hard and well until then and it’s just unfortunate how we ended up like this.”
Bearman salvaged a couple of points by coming home ninth, giving him something to show during a weekend in which he fell out of the points when he was penalized for an incident with Kimi Antonelli in the F1 Sprint race.
“I mean, on the one hand, I’m happy to be disappointed. It’s a little cliché, but being ninth, getting two points for the second weekend in a row, but being disappointed about that is a good thing, because it shows that we have more potential. And, as you know, today, I think seventh place was not an unrealistic result,” Bearman added.
But going back to the incident with Tsunoda, when asked if he wanted to talk to the Red Bull driver about that moment, Bearman declined.
“No, because I don’t think it’s going to change.”