Oliver Bearman’s father explains crucial 'right decision' in career-best performance

Oliver Bearman's father David has hailed the decisions made by Haas at the Mexico City Grand Prix following the 20-year-old's run to fourth place.

Bearman capitalised on some early race chaos to move himself into third in the order, a position he held for much of the race.

However, Haas opted to carry out a second pit stop to cover off the cars he was defending from, which allowed Max Verstappen to gain position by sticking to a one-stop strategy.

While it may have denied Bearman a podium finish, there was no guarantee he would have held on to the top three spot if his rivals caught him with fresher tyres.

Speaking exclusively to RacingNews365, David Bearman asserted that the strong result is a direct outcome of the growing relationship between the driver and team.

“The heart was going up, down and sideways,” he said. “When we boxed to react to the Mercedes and the McLaren, we had to.

“Everyone is working together, together to find their cadence. What's happening is everyone is really gelling now.

“They understand Ollie, Ollie understands them. It was a good call, a right decision. It was a great team effort and well deserved.” 

Bearman crossed the line in fourth, taking a career-best result and matching Haas' best-ever grand prix finish.

Bearman senior, who has been part of his son's motorsport journey since it began, asserted his emotional response to the F1 result is no different to the successes of Oliver's junior career.

“Honestly, he's done an amazing job,” he said. “It's not easy coming to F1.

“You come from F2, a different format. You’ve got to execute quickly, you get one practice and that’s it.

“You come here and it's 1,000 horsepower and 1,000 different switches on the steering wheel and the media attention and everything is under the spotlight and scrutiny. It's not easy.

“Like most rookies, he had some mistakes at the start, a bit of a reset over the summer period, went on holiday and decided to come back renewed, refreshed, refocused, and so far so good.

“The feeling that we have there is no different to the feeling when I'm watching him win his first go-kart races. It's the same for me. Whether it's F1, F2, go-kart racing the local PF track, it’s the same feeling.”