Oliver Bearman asked whether the stewards were investigating Yuki Tsunoda for what the Haas driver called a “very dirty” move during the United States Grand Prix.

Earlier in the race Nico Hulkenberg questioned whether Bearman had broken the rules, saying his restart after the Virtual Safety Car period “must be illegal”. But the stewards took no action over either incident.

Bearman accused Tsunoda of changing his line in the braking zone at turn 15 when he tried to overtake the Red Bull driver on lap 35. The pair had made their pit stops a few laps earlier and Bearman was trying to use the advantage of slightly fresher rubber to attack his rival.

After his spin, Bearman asked his team whether Tsunoda was under investigation. His race engineer Ronan O’Hare assured him they were lobbying race control on his behalf.

Lap: 32/56 BEA: 1’39.119
O’Hare Okay Tsunoda’s soft is one lap older than yours, he boxed one lap before you.
O’Hare And hold it is available.
Lap: 33/56 BEA: 1’39.554
O’Hare Yeah Ollie Hulkenberg has boxed, Leclerc behind.
Bearman What tyres?
Lap: 34/56 BEA: 1’44.003
Bearman Bearman spins trying to pass Tsunoda at turn 15
He moved under braking.
O’Hare Ollie just recover, you’re still okay, you still have the position, let’s get back into it. We’ve seen that.
Lap: 35/56 BEA: 1’40.832
O’Hare You have SOC [state of charge] to defend.
O’Hare OK, Ollie, SOC seven, Albon is not a threat behind.
Bearman Is a threat, or is it a threat?
O’Hare He’s not a threat. He’s not a threat.
Bearman Man he literally just blocked me as I went to make the move, so dangerous.
Lap: 38/56 BEA: 1’39.811
O’Hare Okay Ollie, that’s your second track limit warning, second one when you were battling Tsunoda.
O’Hare Okay.
O’Hare Is he under investigation or anything for that?
O’Hare We’re still talking to them.

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The stewards did not investigate whether Tsunoda had broken the rules with his defending, or even note an incident had occured. After the race Bearman strongly criticised Tsunoda’s driving, accusing him of a series of “desperate moves” in recent races.

Chequered flag
O’Hare Chequered flag, chequered flag, mode ‘in’. Follow your in-lap procedure. Good job, Ollie. That’s P9. Well done.
Bearman Yeah, sorry guys. Fuck, I’m disappointed with that, with that incident with Tsunoda. But I was going for it because it was that lap or never really so apologies for that. Need to have a look back there but felt like he just swerved at me as I attempted to make the move. Seemed very dirty.
O’Hare Yeah, copy, we’ll take a look. Still a good drive, some good points, well done, good weekend.
Bearman Yeah a good weekend. Just disappointed. Disappointed with P9, which I guess is a good thing for us, but still could have been at least eighth or seventh, so sorry. Thank you everyone for the hard work.
Bearman Can you hear me?
O’Hare Yeah Ollie, yeah, good job, copy that.
Komatsu Thanks Ollie. I mean, yes, that move didn’t work out, but I think at least we got the pace. You know, best result we could have was P7. Like you say, it’s good to be disappointed about P9, so we’ll go again, maximise it in Mexico. Let’s do it. Thanks Ollie. Good job.

However Bearman was also the subject of an accusation from another driver. When the race restarted following a Virtual Safety Car period Nico Hulkenberg was surprised to see Bearman pull away from him, and told his team the Haas driver must have broken the rules to gain an advantage:

Lap: 9/56 HUL: 1’40.053
Hulkenberg How can Bearman be… Bearman must have been illegal. He’s way in front now.
Petrik Copy that Nico, we’ll have a look.
Hulkenberg He gained about one and a half seconds.
Petrik Yeah, understood. We are checking the gaps before and after. We should be able to see it.

But despite Hulkenberg’s suspicions, no action was taken against Bearman. The Sauber driver got ahead of Bearman after his pit stop and finished there, one place behind Tsunoda.

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