Photo: Race Pictures

Unlike Verstappen, rookie adapts to avoid ban through penalty points

17:22, 18 Sep

Updated: 20:01, 18 Sep

byKada Sarkozi

With a race ban looming, Oliver Bearman will be more cautious moving forward, the Briton explained in Azerbaijan.

I don't have a choice. I would hope to get given space on the inside, but clearly there's a possibility that that won't happen, so I can't take that risk.

- Oliver Bearman

Oliver Bearman has to be careful after his Monza incident with Carlos Sainz - Photo: Race Pictures

Bearman earned another two penalty points to his tally at Monza, causing a collision with Carlos Sainz. That brings up his total to 10 points, which means he is two away from a suspension.

In Baku, the rookie initially joked about having to race more carefully. "It's a shame. I guess I'll just go around the outside now," he laughed, referring to his incident with Sainz.

"Of course [I will think about this more on track]. It's a shame that I ended up at this point," he continued.

"I did a very dangerous mistake in Silverstone. But I also got two from Monza or I got two from Monaco for the red flag [infringement], which I really felt like I did the maximum to avoid a dangerous situation there.

"So it's a shame that I end up with this many. Of course, the four that I earned is in Silverstone, I deserve [it], and I took that on the chin and learned from it."

He also explained that in situations like the one against Sainz, he now has to be more cautious.

"I don't have a choice. I would hope to get given space on the inside, but clearly there's a possibility that that won't happen, so I can't take that risk."

Bearman a single incident away from suspension

The British driver made his Haas debut in Baku last year, replacing Kevin Magnussen after the Dane collected 12 penalty points himself.

If Bearman gets two further points in Baku, that means he would be suspended from the weekend in Singapore.

His next points will come off his license in on 2 November, ahead of the São Paulo Grand Prix.

Weekend	Incident	Penalty points
2024 São Paulo GP	Causing a collision	2
2025 Monaco GP	Red flag infringement	2
2025 British GP	Crashing under red flag	4
2025 Italian GP	Causing a collision	2