Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu accepted neither of his drivers was to blame for the collision which ruined their races.
However he said the pair came together because the team failed to maximise its performance during the race weekend.
Haas brought an upgrade for its car to Silverstone. Oliver Bearman used it to reach Q3, but his potential seventh on the grid became 18th due to a penalty, while Ocon only qualified 15th.
Both drivers finished out of the points places after their collision. “We executed a terrible race today,” said Komatsu. “We have to be better.”
He said the upgrade has given the team “a strong car” but they “didn’t do justice to the car or the team” in the grand prix. “It’s not just today, as a whole we need to focus on how we get a clean weekend together,” he said. “We shouldn’t be starting from P14 and P18 where we’re then trying to force the result. We need to focus on executing three clean days on a race weekend and getting the result that our car deserves.”
The pair collided at Brooklands as the pair were chasing the Williams drivers. Bearman moved alongside Ocon onto a wet part of the track and the pair made contact.
“Our drivers touching is the last thing that should happen,” said Komatsu, “but I looked at the onboard of both drivers, I spoke with them both, and for me it was a racing incident.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“Again though, if you look at how they ended up in that situation, the pit stop timings for that stop were correct, so we pitted the lead car first. Ollie then went off in a high-speed corner, and that’s why he was behind his team mate when Esteban came out after his stop.
“As Ollie had hotter tires than Esteban, we went for the overtake, but we shouldn’t have been in that position to start with. It just shouldn’t happen.
“When they had different speeds or strategies, we’ve been swapping them over, and they’re complete team players – they don’t argue, and they do the job straight away. It’s a racing incident, but we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
The stewards agreed neither driver was responsible for the collision and issued no penalty.
“In damp conditions, car 87 [Bearman] attempted to overtake car 31 [Ocon] on the inside at turn six and
collided with car 31,” they noted. “Both drivers informed us at the hearing that the track conditions contributed significantly to the incident given that they were both driving on slicks on a damp track.
“According to them, they were both fighting for the dry line which was only a car’s width. In doing so, they came together and the resulting collision had both cars spinning out of the track. They considered the incident to be a racing incident with no driver wholly or predominantly to blame.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“While car 87 appeared to have a legitimate claim to the corner at the apex under the Driver Guidelines, the Stewards took into account the prevailing track conditions, the available grip, and the respective positions and dynamics of both cars at the time.
“These factors indicated that the collision was the result of a convergence of movement from both drivers under challenging circumstances, rather than any one driver being predominantly at fault. The situation did not reasonably allow car 31 to take a significantly wider line to avoid the contact.
“We were therefore unable to establish that one driver was wholly or predominantly to blame and agreed with the assessment of the drivers that this was an (unfortunate) racing incident. We accordingly took no further action.”
You say
Should either Haas driver have been penalised? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.
Should Bearman or Ocon have been penalised for their collision?
A RaceFans account is required in order to vote. If you do not have one, register an account here or read more about registering here. When this poll is closed the result will be displayed instead of the voting form.
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
2025 British Grand Prix
- Aston Martin explain call which led Alonso to claim “you never get it right with me”
- Piastri knew McLaren wouldn’t accept his request to swap places with Norris
- Did switching to slicks before the start really “make no sense”? British GP data
- ‘I was like, what the hell is going on?’ Hulkenberg’s overdue podium stuns rivals
- Komatsu accepts drivers’ explanation for collision in “terrible race” for Haas