Oliver Bearman could also be a rookie in Method 1 however he’s already proving to be an distinctive expertise – even when he does nonetheless must pinch himself over who he’s competing with.

“I by no means thought I’d be racing in opposition to Max [Verstappen] in actual life, however I suppose some issues change,” mentioned the 20-year-old after an excellent drive at Sunday’s Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix noticed him safe fourth place, his best-ever end in F1.

However Bearman did not simply race with Verstappen, he produced some daring and spectacular driving that even the four-time world champion would have been happy with.

He even stored his cool within the latter levels of the race when he was being hunted down by Oscar Piastri, who began the day as championship chief and wanted to go Bearman to make sure he left Mexico in that place.

However as a substitute Bearman held on, with Piastri’s fifth-place end and victory for his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris that means the latter now leads the standings by one level with 4 races to go.

Based mostly on this exhibiting, it isn’t unreasonable to foretell that Bearman may sooner or later be in the identical place as fellow Brit Norris and difficult for titles.

For now, nonetheless, he’s simply joyful to be aggressive with way more skilled drivers.

“Positively a loopy race,” he mentioned. “I am a bit misplaced for phrases – at one level we had been trying on the podium. I used to be bringing it dwelling with a number of nerves.

“On the finish, P4 is a good outcome and we received each vehicles within the factors. We actually wanted that good outcome, so I am actually, actually joyful.

“It was a loopy race. Good lap one – stayed out of bother, nearly. Then the incident with Max and Lewis [Hamilton] – I managed to learn from that as properly.”