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 battle at the back of the top ten between Yuki Tsunoda and Oliver Bearman left the Haas driver rather frustrated in the media pen following the race.
The two drivers were fighting for P7 when Bearman tried to shape 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 and into the gravel to avoid a collision.
Bearman currently has ten penalty points on his FIA Super License, two shy of a one-race ban.
The Haas driver immediately told his team over the radio that Tsunoda “moved under breaking,” and when speaking to the media after the race, Bearman declared that Tsunoda’s move went against the “spirit” of racing.
“What he did was very dangerous, against the spirit of the regulations and against the spirit of going racing, actually,” said Bearman to the media, including SB Nation, after the race.
“This is not how we grow up racing, this is not how we race at this level. Not the way we want to teach people watching, young kids watching how we should be racing because you should not move in reaction to other cars, and that’s what I felt that he did,” continued Bearman.
“Although I avoided a crash I lost two positions so it’s a big shame. It’s disappointing because there was the possibility of more today, at least eighth if not seventh because clearly I had more pace than him at that stage.”
“He was swerving all over the place for a few laps, and when I finally did stick my nose in and attempted to move, he moved in reaction, and didn’t leave a car’s width of track,” added Bearman.
“And that’s unfair. That’s not allowed, and that caused me to avoid him. It could have caused a huge crash honestly without my quick avoidance.”
Later in his session, Bearman offered a potential explanation for Tsunoda’s driving.
“I feel like he’s been doing these desperate moves. In the sprint race he was dive-bombing on the inside, the same in the main race in turn one. So a lot of risk, and I probably should have left a bit more margin for that type of driving,” continued Bearman.
“I feel like he has this issue with other drivers, and you know, even he was fighting against Charles [Leclerc] who is not even in the race with him Why are you defending from him?
“It just seems silly. He’s just not thinking forward.”
Stewards did not investigate the incident and for his part, Tsunoda declared that he had not done anything wrong.
“I don’t think I’ve done anything extremely wrong,” said Tsunoda.
“I have to check from his view onboard, obviously how we ended up is unfortunate. We were fighting hard and fighting good until then and it’s just unfortunate how we end up like that.”
Bearman salvaged a pair of points by coming home ninth, giving him something to show for a weekend that saw him dropped out of the points when he was penalized for an incident with Kimi Antonelli in the F1 Sprint race.
“I mean, on one side I’m happy to be disappointed. 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 you know out there today, I think P7 was not an unrealistic result,” added Bearman.
But returning to the incident with Tsunoda, asked if he wanted to speak with the Red Bull driver about that moment, Bearman declined.
“No, because I don’t think he will change.”
