Oliver Bearman claimed he was “s***ing myself” when he battled Max Verstappen en route to equalling Haas’ best Formula 1 result at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Having executed a strong start, Bearman capitalised on a Lap 6 squabble between Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to be running as high as third.
Despite punching above his experience grade, he kept his rivals behind and took a career-best finish of fourth, only ceding a podium to Verstappen when he pitted.
What occurred wasn’t lost on Bearman, who admitted he came under the “most pressure” that he has experienced to date at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
“Honestly, I was shitting myself going side by side with Max,” Bearman told media including Motorsport Week.
“But it’s really cool to go, you know, wheel-to-wheel with these people that I’ve been, you know, watching since I started watching F1.
And, you know, I had him in my mirrors for a long time, so it was probably the most pressure I’ve ever had in a race scenario.”
Bearman also expressed that this battle, although short, helped him feel confident about his future, conceding he didn’t expect to be in such a position at this stage.
“I didn’t expect to be fighting against these top cars this year or at this stage of my career,” he said.
“But it gives me a great feeling for the future, and hopefully that can be the normal thing instead of a one-off.”
Good luck or good drive?
Despite the history-making finish, Bearman emphasised that luck was most definitely on his side as Verstappen and Hamilton were in the wars in the opening laps.
“I had a good start, I slotted myself between the two Mercs, and then actually in those laps I had good pace,” he recalled.
“Hamilton and Max had a bit of a coming together, and I benefited from that too.”
While the 20-year-old credited luck in his early rise through the field, it was his composure and skill that kept him there.
“Well, definitely it was luck, you know, if I finished lap five in P10 like I started, then I probably would have finished ninth or eighth,” he continued.
“But luckily, you know, we managed to put the car in the right place, and sometimes that happens, you get lucky, and I’ll take it every time.
But actually, we also had the pace to stay there.
“I had Max behind me in the first, then I had [Andrea] Kimi [Antonelli], then I had George, then I had Oscar [Piastri], and they all couldn’t attack me.”
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