Bearman: Haas first podium was my goal, but fourth is great as well

The 20-year-old found himself in third place after an action-packed start and went toe-to-toe with seven-time F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

Verstappen, who is vying for a fifth straight Drivers' Title, dashed his podium dreams by taking third behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and race winner Lando Norris of McLaren, but Bearman was still proud of his achievement.

"Hamilton and Max had a bit of a coming together at the start and I benefited from that," Bearman told reporters.
"I had him in my mirrors for a long time. So it was probably the most pressure I've ever had in a race scenario."

The Ferrari Academy graduate, who joined Haas this season, said the team had opted to defend fourth place rather than risk it all for third.

"I got the call to box very late and I was super confused, but I'm not going to, you know, go against the team order," he said. "It seems like we would have been taking a big risk to stay out and try and finish third.

"And that potentially could have cost us more than fourth; we could have been further back, so I think we did the right job," the young Briton admitted.

Despite missing out on the podium, Bearman's performance has boosted both his confidence and Haas's position in the F1 Constructors' Championship, with the team moving up to eighth place with four races remaining. Teammate Esteban Ocon finished ninth.

Bearman said: "Big step of confidence heading into Brazil now. So I was looking for Haas's first podium. That was my goal.

"But fourth is great as well. And two cars in the points. That's a great result for us," he concluded.

Haas F1 Team boss, Ayao Komatsu, was satisfied with his team's result to say the least, he commented: "What an amazing race and result.

"A massive congratulations to everyone at this team, they work so hard – every week, every race. The car has been competitive at every race excluding the opening round, and that's credit to the team.

"We knew a big result would come one day, but we couldn't force it, we had to focus on our own race, and that's what we did today," Komatsu concluded.

(Reporting by Angelica Medina, Additional Reporting by Grand Prix247)