Oliver Bearman came into the 2025 season after producing three good stand-in cameo performances the year before. However, the rookie driver struggled to find his feet and failed to hit the ground running. Now, after 14 races, the Brit sits in nineteenth place in the standings, having only scored eight points.
However, performances have improved lately, with the 20-year-old breaking his eight-race pointless streak at the Belgian GP. Bearman confessed that he didn’t feel confident in the VF-25 until the British GP, when the upgrades improved the car.
Oliver Bearman pinpoints the British GP to when he felt confident with his Haas
Oliver Bearman has struggled to extract performance from his Haas car, especially in qualifying. The youngster has qualified last in four races this season, and has only made it out of Q1 on eight occasions. He also has a 19-point deficit to his more experienced teammate, Esteban Ocon.
However, Bearman has shown signs of revival after an upgrade package that Haas introduced onto the VF-25. At Silverstone, Bearman managed to put his Haas in P8, but started third from last due to a ten-place grid penalty. He then finished seventh in the sprint race in Belgium, before just missing out on a Q3 spot in Hungary.
Bearman honestly admitted: “I haven’t found my confidence until we brought the Silverstone upgrade to the car. Since then, I’ve had a really good feeling, and I’ve been able to replicate that feeling – and that’s crazy.
“It’s a car that I feel fully comfortable in. Of course, I tried to feel as comfortable as possible in the previous car, but it’s difficult when the balance is tough. Now we’ve managed to replicate that, and from now, I think we can do a lot with this car.
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“I hope we can keep up this level of performance, and then I think we can score some good points going into the second half of the season.”
Bearman has shown signs in the last three races that there are flashes of pace in his locker. If he can replicate his form from those races, the results will come his way. This season is a learning curve for the rookie, but next season, results must improve.
How has Oliver Bearman performed in 2025?
Oliver Bearman came into the 2025 season after three positive cameo performances for both Haas and Ferrari. However, in his first race at the Australian GP, it couldn’t have gone worse for him. The Brit made critical mistakes during his qualifying laps, finishing the session in last place. He was unable to make progress in the race in the wet conditions.
Bearman was also penalised and handed a ten-place grid penalty for crashing under a red flag while entering the pit lane. This cost the youngster as he had put his Haas in P8 during qualifying.
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Bearman reflected on his first half of the season, saying: “There have been some very costly mistakes from my side, which we’ve had to learn from.”
However, there have been some good moments from the Brit. After starting last in Bahrain, he recovered to P10 to earn himself a valuable point. He also scored well in China, with a season-high finish of P8 in only his second race after starting P17. He also has four P11 finishes, the most of any driver this season.
There have been flashes of brilliance from Bearman, coupled with mistakes, which is expected from a rookie. He needs to learn from this season if he wants to progress his career and join a bigger team. There is potential in the Brit, but he has to start delivering and cutting out the mistakes.
