Ollie Bearman reveals race ban fear: 'I was really, really annoyed'

Ollie Bearman has explained that he initially believed he had been handed a race ban after his 10-second time penalty in the sprint at the United States Grand Prix.

The British driver said he was "really, really annoyed" having been punished by the stewards and the Circuit of the Americas for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage.

On lap 14 of the one-third distance race at COTA, whilst fighting for the final points-paying position in eighth, the Haas driver went off circuit to keep the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli behind.

The officials took a dim view of the incident, hitting the 20-year-old with a sanction that dropped him to P15 and last of the remaining runners at the chequered flag.

At first, Bearman also thought that it came with penalty points. Already on 10 of 12 allowed FIA super licence penalty points, that would have resulted in him sitting out the next round.

Speaking to media, including RacingNews365, he reflected on the punishment: "Don't know what you guys thought, but I felt pretty hard done by...

"Actually, I thought I had a race ban for a minute, so I was really, really annoyed."

Bearman was quickly put right by the team, but by his own account, it had provided ample motivation for qualifying.

"But no, obviously, with everything that happened, I had a bit of fire in me," he explained after securing eighth on the grid for the grand prix at COTA.

The American squad has introduced upgrades to the VF-25, which is also adorned with a special livery, in Austin. However, that — and a myriad of other factors — provided Bearman with a considerable Texan task.

He added: "And with the difficulty, I would say, of this weekend for myself — rookie going into this track on a sprint format, very bumpy circuit and quite unique, one rated quite difficult by the drivers, plus that, I only put the upgrade on the car in sprint quali — it was really an uphill climb... and I knew it was going to be a huge challenge.

"So, to be standing here in P8, I'm really, really proud of myself and what the team have achieved."