Bearman Battles in Baku Breeze

They don’t call Baku the “City of Winds” for nothing. The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is one of the most unpredictable races on the Formula 1 calendar. With its mix of high-speed straights, a notoriously tight castle section, and walls that punish even the smallest mistake, it’s a circuit where drama is almost guaranteed.

Practice
Ollie settled quickly into the rhythm of the Baku streets. After easing into FP1, he made a big step forward in FP2, finishing an impressive P5 as Haas dialled in the car’s balance. The momentum carried into Saturday morning, where he backed it up with P8 in FP3 — another strong showing that underlined both the pace in the VF-25 and Ollie’s growing confidence on one of the calendar’s trickiest street circuits.

Qualifying
Saturday brought the usual Baku tension, with red flags and slipstream tactics adding to the challenge. Ollie delivered a strong lap in Q1 to comfortably progress. In the end, he missed out on a Q3 appearance, securing P15 on the grid after a brush with the wall broke his rear-right suspension and ended his session prematurely.

The Race
Starting on the hard tyres to try and gain strategic advantage, Ollie dropped a couple of places off the start, as incidents unfolded elsewhere with championship leader Oscar Piastri crashing out and bringing out the safety car on the first lap.

From there, Ollie starting on the hard tyre showed good pace but was held up in a series of DRS trains. He remained patient and fought through the midfield, holding off competitors and maintaining pace — managing tyres, traffic, and the usual challenges of Baku’s straights and tight sections to finish just outside the points in P12. 

Looking Ahead
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix showed once again Ollie’s ability to keep calm in the chaos and seize opportunities when they appear. Formula 1 now heads to Singapore, another street circuit where patience, precision, and bravery will be tested under the lights.