'I'm lucky to be standing here, that would have been a monster shot'

The near-miss incident unfolded in the opening moments of the race while Bearman and Hadjar were battling for position in lap 1.

Heading into the corner that feeds onto Shanghai’s long back straight, Hadjar suddenly lost control of the car and spun while alongside the Haas driver on the inside. The Frenchman’s car rotated directly across Bearman’s path. With almost no time to react, the Brit had to make an instant decision, sharply moving left and taking to the runoff area to avoid crashing into the spinning RB22.

"I was so lucky, to be honest, to avoid that," Bearman told GPblog after the race. "I'm lucky to be standing here. Honestly, that would have been a monster shot. It was a really tricky corner, that whole race, with the wind of today. It was just all over the place, the car balance, I think, for everyone.

Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu also shared his view on where the American team currently stands within the tightly contested midfield battle. The Japanese boss acknowledged the strong pace shown by Audi’s power unit while suggesting several teams are operating at a very similar level.

According to him, Red Bull, Audi, Haas and Alpine are all part of the same closely matched group. However, he emphasised that the competitive order could easily shift depending on the circuit, meaning performance is likely to vary significantly from track to track.