Oliver Bearman recounts split-second decision after scary Isack Hadjar miss

Oliver Bearman has recalled his split-second decision, which saved his Chinese GP on the opening lap. 

Battling with Red Bull's Isack Hadjar over sixth and seventh position, Bearman was forced to take evasive action by jinking off track after Hadjar spun out, rounding the banked final corner.

The Red Bull passed in front of Bearman's Haas, which took to the run off and dropped down to 13th place.

However, aided by the safety car being deployed, Bearman was able to climb up the order to run a strong fifth, and was easily gapping the sister Red Bull of Max Verstappen before he retired with an ERS cooling glitch. 

The result moved Bearman up to fifth in the drivers' championship on 17 points, with the Briton now having scored points in seven of the last nine races, and in the Chinese Sprint. 

Recounting the moment he was faced with an out-of-control Hadjar, Bearman described how he was most disappointed with losing multiple places in the running order.

"Yeah, the moment where I almost killed him, to be honest... fuck, I mean, sorry, that's not the word I was looking for, damn, it was close," Bearman told Viaplay. 

"If you could sum up my emotions in that one second when I was seeing him sideways, it was: 'Wow'.

"I was just saying with Isack that that corner was so hard in the whole race, the wind has been changing a lot all weekend, and it was a difficult corner. 

"You would get a random snap of oversteer, and of course, on Lap 1, it is exacerbated, the car is heavy with fuel, and there was no warning about him spinning, really.

"We were finishing the corner, and next thing I know, he is facing sideways. I could have gone left or right, and in the end, I chose left and had to go off track, and I thought the race was over.

"I was really disappointed. I didn't crash, but I was at the back, but with that bit of bad luck, I managed to have the good luck of the [Lance Stroll] safety car, so it was P5.

"We can't deny that we were lucky, with no McLarens in the race, and the Red Bulls having had a really challenging weekend, but we were there to pick up the pieces.

"We won the race we needed to win, which is the midfield race. Alpine was incredibly fast, particularly at the end, Pierre [Gasly] was coming fast, so we still have some work to do, but I am happy with the result, and we're going to keep pushing."