‘Lost for words’ – how Bearman survived ‘crazy race’ to secure fourth

Oliver Bearman may be a novice in Formula 1, but he is already proving to be an exceptional talent, despite the fact that he still finds himself struggling with who he is competing against.

After a strong drive at Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix secured him fourth place, his best-ever F1 result, the 20-year-old said, “I never thought I would be racing against Max]Verstappen] in real life, but I guess some things change.”

Even the four-time world champion would have been proud of Bearman’s bold and impressive driving, which he did not just compete with Verstappen.

He even managed to stay cool in the final moments of the race because Oscar Piastri, who had already led the day, needed to pass Bearman to force him to leave Mexico in that position.

With four races left, Bearman fought back thanks to Piastri’s fifth-place finish and victory for Lando Norris, who now leads the standings by one point.

Based on this performance, it makes sense to assume that Bearman might one day compete for titles alongside fellow Brit Norris.

He is only content to compete with much more experienced drivers for the time being.

He declared, “Definitely a crazy race.” We were looking at the podium at one point, and I’m a little lost for words. I had a lot of nerves when I brought it home.

P4 is a fantastic result, and both cars placed first overall. I’m so happy because we really needed that positive outcome.

Early in the race, Bearman had his big moment.

Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton engaged in a battle in Turn One on lap six, forcing the Ferrari driver to wide before cutting the corner at Turn Three.

Verstappen braked late on Hamilton’s return to Turn Four, forcing him to run off the track and cut into the corner at Turn Five.

Verstappen was delayed and passed by Bearman, who tussled the pair by passing them and George Russell into Turn Six, earning Hamilton a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

It was a daring and brilliant opportunistic driving tactic that paid off.

Bearman told Sky Sports, “You need to fight the same way back when you race against someone like Max [Verstappen], because he doesn’t give you an inch.”

“I’ve been watching him since I started watching F1, and I think he’s the best driver in F1, and I think it’s very cool to go wheel-to-wheel with him.”

We had a cool fight, despite the fact that he was a better race than us.

Bearman was just entering his first season of F2 just two years ago.

In that campaign, he won the feature race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and became the first driver to top every practice session in the category’s history.

When brilliant weekends were punctuated by challenging ones, as is frequently the case for a rookie, Bearman started karting when he was eight years old, made his single-seater debut in 2020, won both the Italian and German Formula 4 titles in 2021, and finished third in his rookie season in Formula 3 in 2022.

He made his Formula 1 debut at last year’s Saudi Arabia Grand Prix when he was the reserve driver at Ferrari and had to take Carlos Sainz’s ill-fated absence. He started the season as one of the favorites in F2.

Bearman, who Haas confirmed in July 2024 that he would join them for this season, finished a very impressive seventh in that race.

He has finished in the top 10 seven times in his first full season of driving for the team, culminating in fourth place on Sunday.

He said, “Obviously, my goal in life is to fight that week in and week out.”

I didn’t anticipate engaging in any kind of racing, whether it be a Ferrari or a McLaren.