Doohan: Bearman sprint race off was ‘karma’

An on-track battle between Doohan and Bearman during the sprint race ended in the Brit running wide.

The pair jostled for position throughout Saturday’s sprint race, each driver gunning for a third place finish. On lap 17, Doohan and Bearman ran side by side as they approached Vale.

As Bearman moved to get ahead of the Australian he ran wide into the corner, locking up and falling off track. Doohan passed the PREMA driver by, sending a wave farewell in Bearman’s direction.

In a press conference following the sprint race, FormulaNerds asked Doohan about that wave. The Invicta Virtuosi driver was quick to offer some context for the incident.

“I think it was probably my 13th time trying to get past him, and he pushed me all the way out onto the double kerb on the exit of Turn 15 under braking, which isn’t allowed,” explained the 20-year-old.

LAP 18/19

Catch ya later mate ?

Jack Doohan gives a cheeky wave as he finally moves past Bearman ? #BritishGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/OoZtxvjvqy

— Formula 2 (@Formula2) July 8, 2023

He continued, “He swerved at me under braking into Turn 15, and to his disappointment locked up clearly by turning under braking, especially under these conditions, isn’t going to be too great especially when there’s a driver on the inside, and he locks up and goes off.” The Australian driver added:

“I just did a little wave because I felt karma had come back and unfortunately he lost out.”

“We had a gap behind us so potentially he could have slotted into P4 but he lost positions,” said Doohan. “So I said au revoir my friend and see you later.”

Should Bearman have cut his losses?

The sprint race finished with Doohan taking to the podium, claiming the final position behind Frederik Vesti and Théo Pourchaire. Ollie Bearman, who had been so close to a podium, only finished as high as P6.

Speaking after the race, Bearman admitted that he might have been better off conceding the position to Doohan, rather than continuing to battle him. “Clearly in that phase of the race, Doohan was much faster than me,” said Bearman. “Once he passed, he was down the road. From my side, I obviously didn’t want to let him by, I was trying to hold on.”

“I probably shouldn’t have fought him so hard; I lost a bit too much time and I had the lock-up which took me off track,” added Bearman. “That’s something to learn and work on for the next wet race.”

The feature race

Sunday’s feature race saw further on-track action between Doohan and Bearman. The pair lined up behind one another on the starting grid, with Doohan in P5 ahead of the PREMA driver.

Bearman got an early jump on Doohan, and was in P3 by the fourth lap of the race. But the Invicta Virtuosi driver wasn’t far behind, and soon managed to repass Ollie Bearman. As with Saturday’s sprint, it was Doohan that came away the better off out of the two.

Ollie Bearman came across the line in P6, whilst Doohan fell short of a back-to-back podium, finishing in fourth. Meanwhile, ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins took his maiden Formula 2 victory, with Zane Maloney and Théo Pourchaire rounding out the podium.

Featured Image Credit: Formula 2 on Twitter