Oliver Bearman has admitted that he briefly feared a Formula 1 race ban following his 10-second penalty in the United States Grand Prix Sprint Race.
The incident occurred with five laps to go as Andrea Kimi Antonelli challenged Bearman for the final points-paying position through Turn 15.
The Mercedes driver held the inside line at the apex, while Bearman swept around the outside but ran beyond the white lines before rejoining ahead.
Under the FIA’s driving standards, the attacking driver is not required to leave space if he is fully alongside at the apex.
Bearman’s move was therefore deemed to have been completed off track, resulting in a 10-second penalty that cost him a single point.
Crucially, the penalty carried no additional licence points. Bearman already sits on 10 points, two short of an automatic race ban – a situation that left him briefly panicked.
“I don’t know what you guys thought, but I felt pretty hard done by this morning,” Bearman told media including Motorsport Week.
“Actually, I thought I had a race ban for a minute, so I was really, really annoyed. Obviously, with everything that happened, I had a bit of fire in me.”
Haas slow to react as Safety Car intervenes
The Haas pit wall appeared hesitant over whether to instruct Bearman to hand the position back before the Safety Car was deployed for Lance Stroll’s collision with Esteban Ocon.
With the field neutralised, the chance to correct the situation was gone.
“From our view at the time, we didn’t have a long time to really think about it, because the Safety Car came out directly,” Bearman explained.
“But from where I’m sitting, it’s really marginal.
“Like I said, I think back about that 10-page document [driving guidelines] in those two-tenths of a second that he sent it on my inside and couldn’t quite figure out exactly where he was relative to my mirror or whatever.
“So, you know, I leave it to the team to decide that. But I think by the time they were ready to make a decision, the Safety Car was already out.
“It’s just silly, because, you know, 10 seconds for that…”
The penalty ultimately cost Bearman any reward from his spirited performance, demoting him to 15th and last as the Safety Car bunched the remaining cars up.
“Eighth or ninth or 20th, I don’t really care. It’s a shame. I was eighth, so I was going to give everything to go for that,” he said having climbed from 16th to eighth.
“We got very lucky to be in P8, but I was holding on for dear life with a set-up that was probably not the best for high fuel or sustained running. And I was pushed off.
“But anyway, tomorrow I’ll try not to be fighting with anyone.”
Ironically, the Briton’s F1 debut last season came as a stand-in for Kevin Magnussen, who himself was sidelined after exceeding the 12-point threshold.
While Magnussen’s tally reflected his combative reputation, Bearman’s record tells the story of an inexperienced driver learning on the job.
His first two points were collected in Saudi Arabia for colliding with Franco Colapinto during practice, followed by another two in Monaco for overtaking Carlos Sainz under red flags.
Silverstone brought the heaviest punishment yet, with four points awarded after a red-flag pit entry crash in wet conditions.
A further two came at Monza for contact once again with Sainz, bringing the total to 10.
The US GP Sprint could easily have tipped him over the limit, but the stewards judged that his off-track excursion, while illegal, did not constitute an unsafe re-entry.
Bearman encouraged by Haas upgrade
Despite the penalty drama, Haas took encouragement from its upgraded package.
Esteban Ocon ran the new specification in FP1, and its performance prompted the team to fit it to both cars for the rest of the weekend.
“Generally, I think the upgrade is pushing us in the right direction,” Bearman assessed.
“I would say it makes the car a little bit more sensitive and a bit more on the limit, that’s for sure, because I did a mistake in Q2 in my second run.
“Just a bit of wind is enough to flick the rear around.
“That’s kind of the compromise we’re playing with at this stage of the regs.
“Bringing performance to the car, you make the car more sensitive to everything. But it’s definitely faster, so that’s all we need.”
The 20-year-old went on to qualify eighth for Sunday’s Grand Prix, beating Ocon by 0.844 seconds in Q1.
“It was really an uphill climb before the weekend, and I knew it was going to be a huge challenge,” Bearman reflected.
“So to be standing here in P8, I’m really, really proud of myself and what the team have achieved.”
READ MORE – Lance Stroll incurs grid penalty for F1 US GP after Sprint clash
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