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ollie bearman Admitted that he was “deceiving himself” when he launched a daring attack. max verstappen At the Mexican Grand Prix.
The 20-year-old British driver achieved a career-best fourth place finish decline from ninth on the grid Mexico City.
He gained three places from the start and then took advantage of the battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen on the seventh lap to move up to fourth, completing a bold move on the Dutchman.
Hamilton was given a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and taking the lead at the fourth turn, promoting Bearman to third.
He was denied an F1 podium for the first time as he pitted twice while Verstappen adopted a one-stop strategy.
But Bearman held off Oscar Piastri – who had lost the title lead to team-mate lando norris – To achieve fourth place in the closing stages.
He was happy with his result and contemplated going wheel-to-wheel with the four-time world champion and coming out on top.
“Hamilton and Max came together and I benefited from that,” Bearman said.
“To be honest, I was hesitant to go side-by-side with Max, but it’s really cool to go wheel-to-wheel with these guys who I’ve been looking up to since I started watching F1.
“And he was in my mirror for a long time, so it was probably the most pressure I’ve ever had in a race scenario.”
Bearman’s 12 points in fourth place doubled his tally for the entire season, taking him to 20 in his first full F1 campaign.
He admitted that battling the top cars on the grid and achieving his best result would do wonders for his confidence.
“I had Max behind me, then Kimi (Antonelli) behind me, then I had George (Russell) and I had Oscar (Piastri) and they all couldn’t attack me. So we were doing something right today,” Bearman said.
“I didn’t expect to be fighting against these top cars this year or at this stage of my career. But it gives me a great feeling for the future and hopefully it can be a normal thing rather than a one-off.”
The London-born driver has no intention of celebrating his achievement.
“I’m on the first flight home and honestly I’m going to go straight to bed,” Bearman said.