‘I was shi**ing myself!’ admission made as surreal Max Verstappen moment revealed

Oliver Bearman is hopeful of racing the frontrunners more often in the future, despite “sh**ting himself” while battling with Max Verstappen in Mexico.

The British driver scored a career-best fourth-place last time out, to match the American team’s best-ever finish, achieving the result on meritorious pace against front-running cars.

Oliver Bearman: Hopefully, this can be a normal thing!

Starting from ninth on the grid in Mexico, Bearman climbed to sixth via a strong start and, upon a kerfuffle playing out between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, rose to fourth.

With Hamilton being penalised and pitting out of his way, Bearman climbed into the podium spots and held his ground against Verstappen for a long time. While he did eventually lose out to a recovering Verstappen, this was due to differing strategy; the Dutch driver had not proven able to overtake Bearman on track.

Despite being put under huge pressure by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in the closing stages, Bearman held on to take the place and match the best result achieved by Haas, done by Romain Grosjean at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix.

Having had the chance to race amongst the frontrunners for the first time since arriving in F1, even relative to his strong outing for Ferrari at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Bearman said he had been awed by the situation he found himself in.

“I had a good start, I slotted myself between the two Mercs, I think,” he told the media, including PlanetF1.com, after his result.

“Actually, in those laps, I had good pace, I was able to stay in the DRS, and then George [Russell] lost the DRS of the car ahead.

“Then, [Lewis] Hamilton and Max [Verstappen] had a bit of a coming together. I benefited from that too.

“Honestly, I was sh**ting myself going side-by-side with Max!

“But it’s really cool to go wheel to wheel with these people that I’ve been watching since I started watching F1, and 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.”

Asked whether he could take confidence from the situation, having held his own against formidable rivals in superior cars, Bearman said, “Yeah, it’s cool.

“I didn’t expect to be fighting against these top cars this year, or this stage of my career, but it gives me a great feeling for the future.

“Hopefully, that can be the normal thing instead of a one-off.”

Haas recently brought an update to the VF-25, a late-season upgrade package that introduced a revised floor design aimed at high-speed corner performance. Relative to many midfield rivals who have remained largely static as the focus has switched to 2026, Haas’ changes appear to be reaping rewards, although Bearman did admit some luck played a part in his strong result.

“Definitely, there was luck,” he said.

“If I had finished Lap 5 in P10, like I started, then I probably would have finished ninth or eighth.

“But, luckily, we managed to put the car in the right place. 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 stint, then I had Kimi, then I had George, and I had Oscar, and they all couldn’t attack me.

“So we were doing something right today. Quali pace, honestly, that lap I did in quali, I would stand by the fact that I’m really, really happy with it. So, our gap to the front is still a bit too big in quali-spec, but that has somehow paid dividends in the race.

“Now we need to understand if we can strike a balance a bit more in favour of qualifying for future races.”

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Ayao Komatsu: No question over Oliver Bearman’s speed

Speaking ahead of the weekend, Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu was asked about Bearman’s season after arriving as a full-time driver this year after some stand-in races during 2024.

Komatsu said that, while Bearman’s speed is unquestionable, the task he and the team are working on is in unlocking the consistency required to become a regular points-scorer.

“It’s just about putting the weekend together. He’s still a rookie,” he said.

“In terms of the speed, there’s no question. It’s just about nurturing that speed and peaking at the right moment—consistency. So that’s what we’ve been working on.

“But then again, you know, Singapore, he put it together. And then Austin had a couple of bumps, but overall, he qualified very well. And in the race, for the vast majority, it was a very strong performance. So really impressed with the progress he’s making.”

Mexico marked two years since Bearman’s first appearance in a race weekend, having driven for his current team in the first practice session in 2023.

From that tentative outing to racing with the front-runners at the same event two years later, Komatsu said it’s clear the young British driver has been steadily learning and improving ever since he got his first chance.

“Well, he’s not a teenager anymore!” Komatsu joked when asked to compare the Bearman of now versus two years ago.

“He was 18 when we first ran him. I remember, I just couldn’t believe he was 18. You know, looking back, when I was 18, I certainly couldn’t behave like that.

“He had such a mature head on his shoulders. He understood what the team needed, and his performance was very strong. He learned so quickly.

“And then for me, two years later, I think he’s just hitting all the points. He’s been making improvements everywhere, and he’s very engaging. He’s open to feedback—even the tough conversations. Again, he’s a great team player as well.

“So yeah, in all aspects, he’s making tremendous progress every race.”

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