Oliver Bearman: “I thought I had a race ban for a minute”

Bearman fretted over a potential race ban following a track-limits breach in the Austin sprint

Oliver Bearman feared he might get a Formula 1 race ban after committing a track-limits violation in his sprint battle with Andrea Kimi Antonelli at the United States Grand Prix.

Antonelli attacked Bearman for the last points-paying position on lap 14 of 19 in the Turn 15 section, with the Mercedes ahead at the apex but the Haas driver sweeping around the outside – all the way beyond the track – to rejoin in front.

Driving guidelines are clear that, being ahead on the inside at the apex, Antonelli was entitled not to leave room on the outside, so Bearman got a 10-second penalty and lost that final point.

Crucially, the Briton didn’t get any penalty points on top of his current 10; two more points would have resulted in a race ban for the Mexico City GP, but unless the driver rejoins the track unsafely, no penalty points are warranted.

“I don't know what you guys thought, but I felt pretty hard done by this morning,” Bearman told written media. “Actually, I thought I had a race ban for a minute, so I was really, really annoyed. Obviously, with everything that happened, I had a bit of fire in me.”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

The 20-year-old did disagree with his penalty, though he refrained from “saying things that I shouldn't” regarding the stewarding.

Due to the safety car which followed when Lance Stroll collided with Bearman's Haas team-mate Esteban Ocon, the Brit felt the team was unable to make a decision on whether to let Antonelli through.

“From our view at the time, we didn't have a long time to really think about it, because the safety car came out directly,” he pointed out. “But from where I'm sitting, it's really marginal.

“Like I said, I think back about that 10-page document [driving guidelines] in those two-tenths of a second that he sent it on my inside and couldn't quite figure out exactly where he was relative to my mirror or whatever. So, you know, I leave it to the team to decide that. But I think by the time they were ready to make a decision, the safety car was already out.

“It’s just silly, because, you know, 10 seconds for that…”

The 10-second penalty dropped Bearman from eighth to 15th and last in the sprint classification.

“Eighth or ninth or 20th, I don't really care. It's a shame. I was eighth, so I was going to give everything to go for that. We got very lucky to be in P8,” he admitted after jumping from 16th to eighth amid the first-lap drama, “but I was holding on for dear life with a set-up that was probably not the best for high fuel or sustained running. And I was pushed off.

“But anyway, tomorrow I'll try not to be fighting with anyone.”

Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

On the positive side, the Haas upgrade that Ocon trialled in FP1 was successful enough to be installed on both cars for the remainder of the weekend, though running new parts for the first time in sprint qualifying did not make Bearman’s life easy.

“Generally, I think the upgrade is pushing us in the right direction,” the English rookie analysed. “I would say it makes the car a little bit more sensitive and a bit more on the limit, that's for sure, because I did a mistake in Q2 in my second run. Just a bit of wind is enough to flick the rear around.

“That's kind of the compromise we're playing with at this stage of the regs. Bringing performance to the car, you make the car more sensitive to everything. But it's definitely faster, so that's all we need.”

Bearman went on to qualify eighth for the grand prix, having outqualified Ocon by 0.844s in Q1.

“It was really an uphill climb before the weekend, and I knew it was going to be a huge challenge,” he added. “So to be standing here in P8, I'm really, really proud of myself and what the team have achieved.”