Why Oliver Bearman 'wouldn’t change' rookie F1 mistake

Oliver Bearman has explained why he would not change any of the mistakes he made during his rookie F1 season.

The Haas driver enjoyed a strong campaign, with late highlights coming in stand-out drives in Mexico City and São Paulo, as well as an impressive pit lane to sixth performance at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Those results helped the young Briton outscore experienced team-mate Esteban Ocon 41 points to 38, underlining the undeniable potential Bearman possesses, something that has seen the Ferrari junior closely linked with a future move to the storied Italian team.

However, although the 20-year-old feels that he showed his "talent and pace very early" in the campaign, it was "up and down" across that part of the season.

There were several costly — and at times controversial — errors, which have left Bearman on the cusp of a race ban, including crashing in the pit lane at Silverstone under red flag conditions.

He flirted with the threat of an FIA-imposed suspension for the latter part of the year and heads into 2026 with 10 of 12 allowed super license penalty points.

After his strong end to his maiden F1 season, Bearman was asked what advice he would have given his former self at the advent of the campaign, and, interestingly, he explained why the mistakes he made were so valuable now.

"I think just staying motivated and committed, and not letting any of the things that happen get him down," the Haas driver told select media, including RacingNew365.

"Because there were some points... I could tell myself, 'Don't overtake [Carlos] Sainz at the red flag in Monaco,' but that is just easy to say.

"There were some silly moments. But what I'm trying to get at is that I wouldn't change the mistakes that I made, because I think they allowed me to learn and improve at a faster rate.

"And therefore, I'm not sure I would be at this stage right now without having made some of those mistakes earlier in the year."

The 'important' role Bearman has assumed

Bearman's boss, team principal Ayao Komatsu, was vocal about the difficulties he encountered.

Previously, Komatsu recalled a conversation with the young driver over the summer where he implored him to build on his clear natural ability and become more mature and consistent in his approach, or risk being remembered as a quick driver who crashed a lot.

Evidently, it was a talk that Bearman took on board, as proved by the second half of the season he had. 

But there are things he believes he could have done sooner, such as stepping forward as the driver and being a leader in the garage.

"So I would just give the feedback to keep pushing and to probably try and lead the team a bit earlier, because now I feel like I'm doing a good job of leading the team, and that's an important role that you assume as a driver," Bearman added.

"But it didn't come naturally for me — I've never done that before; it's unnatural for me as a kid working with all of these adults. It's a new thing, so I would just say that."