Formula 1, Sportrik Media - Oliver Bearman has revealed the split-second decision that helped him avoid a major collision during the opening lap of the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit. The Haas driver was forced to take evasive action after Isack Hadjar spun at the banked final corner while battling for position.
The incident occurred as Bearman and Hadjar were fighting for sixth and seventh place early in the race. Hadjar’s Red Bull Racing car suddenly spun in front of Bearman’s Haas, forcing the British driver to leave the circuit and run through the runoff area to avoid contact. The maneuver dropped Bearman down the order to 13th place.
However, the situation changed shortly afterwards when the safety car was deployed following an incident involving Lance Stroll. The neutralization allowed Bearman to recover positions and climb back through the field to run as high as fifth place. At one stage he was comfortably pulling away from the sister Red Bull of Max Verstappen before eventually retiring due to an ERS cooling issue.
Despite the retirement, Bearman’s performances across recent races have strengthened his position in the drivers’ standings. The British driver now sits fifth in the championship with 17 points, having scored in seven of the last nine races as well as in the Chinese Sprint.
Bearman explained that the moment he saw Hadjar’s car sideways in front of him happened extremely quickly and left him with only a split second to react.
“Yeah, the moment where I almost hit him, honestly it was extremely close. If I had to sum up my emotions in that one second when I saw him sideways, it was simply: ‘Wow’,” Bearman told Viaplay.
According to Bearman, the final corner in Shanghai proved particularly difficult throughout the weekend due to changing wind conditions, which made the cars more prone to sudden oversteer.
“I was just saying with Isack that the corner was very hard the whole race. The wind has been changing a lot all weekend, and the car could suddenly snap into oversteer without much warning.”
“We were finishing the corner and suddenly he was sideways. I could have gone left or right, and in the end I chose left and had to go off track. At that moment I thought the race was over.”
Although the incident initially left him frustrated after losing several positions, Bearman admitted that the safety car helped turn the situation around.
“I was really disappointed because even though I didn’t crash, I was suddenly at the back. But with that bit of bad luck came some good luck with the safety car, which allowed me to get back to P5.”
Bearman also acknowledged that circumstances in the race created opportunities for midfield teams to score strong results. The absence of McLaren in the race and a difficult weekend for Red Bull opened the door for other teams to capitalize.
“We can’t deny that we were a bit lucky. With no McLarens in the race and Red Bull having a tough weekend, we were there to pick up the pieces.”
“We won the race we needed to win, which is the midfield race. Pierre Gasly from Alpine was incredibly fast towards the end, so we still have work to do, but I’m happy with the result and we
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