Ferrari send message to Oliver Bearman after career-best finish at Mexican Grand Prix

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Oliver Bearman won the driver of the day award after the Mexican Grand Prix after finishing a career-best fourth. And after the race, Ferrari got in touch to congratulate him.

Bearman qualified 10th for the race but picked his way through the chaos in the opening laps. At one stage, after Max Verstappen’s squabble with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, he was running third.

A second pit stop demoted him to fourth, but he was fast enough to see off the threat of both George Russell and Oscar Piastri behind.

Bearman has been in excellent form since the summer break – this result comes only five races after a P6 at Zandvoort, and represents his third points finish in a row. He’s now only seven points away from the top 10 in the championship.

Ferrari boss and Esteban Ocon among those to congratulate Oliver Bearman

Bearman quickly took to Instagram to mark the achievement, writing: “P4!!!”

He secured the seat at Haas through his place in the Ferrari driver academy. The Scuderia supply engines to Ayao Komatsu’s squad.

Bearman, who’s proved himself more than worthy of a place on the grid, was commended for a ‘brilliant drive’ by Ferrari’s official account.

In an interview with Sky Italia, the Ferrari team principal, Fred Vasseur, marvelled at a ‘perfect’ weekend for the young Briton.

“I was impressed by Bearman,” he said. “He did an exceptional job, holding off the Mercedes for over 20 laps and even managing to keep Piastri behind him.

“He didn’t make a single mistake. He’d had excellent weekends before, but he often made mistakes here and there. This weekend, however, was perfect from start to finish.”

Even though he’s been somewhat upstaged by his rookie teammate, Esteban Ocon joined the wave of applause by commenting: “Congrats mate, mega drive today!”

Oliver Bearman reacts to overtaking Max Verstappen at Mexican Grand Prix

While it was an opportunistic move and he ultimately chose to pit again, passing Verstappen surely ranks as one of the finest moments of Bearman’s career so far.

Reviewing the overtake in an interview with Sky UK, he said: “When you race against someone like Max, he doesn’t give you an inch, so you need to fight the same way back. To go wheel-to-wheel is a very cool moment, because I was watching him since I started watching F1, basically.

“Although he did a better race than us, we had a cool fight. I managed to get the switch-back, but then there was a yellow flag, so then we were having a drag race on the exit. I braked as late as I dared into turn seven, and it was really slippery out there, but I managed to get round.”

Bearman has called Verstappen the best F1 driver ever and hopes he eventually has the tools to compete with the world champion on a more consistent basis.

Naturally, given his ties to the team, Bearman is a contender for a 2027 Ferrari seat. That will depend on how he fares next year, as well as the fate of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.