Haas F1’s Oliver Bearman Faces Race Ban Threat As Penalty Points Accumulate

During the Italian Grand Prix, Haas F1 driver Oliver Bearman was involved in a collision with Carlos Sainz, leading to a 10-second penalty.

The British driver, with his most recent infraction, has 10 penalty points over the last 12 months, two points away from a race ban.

The penalty resulted from the FIA deeming that Bearman did not leave enough room for the Williams car.

After the race was over, the governing body gave its ruling on the collision.

“The Stewards reviewed video and in-car video evidence,” the FIA document read.

“Car 55 attempted to overtake Car 87 on the outside into Turn 4 and had its front axle ahead of the front axle of Car 87 at the apex, thereby earning the right to the racing line.

“The driver of Car 87 defended his position on the inside instead of giving up the position and caused the collision. The Stewards determine that the driver of Car 87 is predominantly at fault and therefore the standard penalty for such incidents is applied.”

Bearman qualified in P11 for the race and looked to have promising pace during the race, potentially vying for a points finish, but instead, he left with the unwanted kind of points.

“It’s really sad honestly, because the car felt great today, we were really quick,” Bearman told Sky Sports F1.

“I had to really fight because we were very slow in a straight line today, but without the incident, I think we would have been in the points today.

“I need to look back [at the incident]. Obviously from my seat, I have an opinion, but I need to look back without emotion basically.”

With several races left in the season, Bearman will need to be careful and avoid getting involved in an incident.

The young Ferrari Academy driver is having an impressive rookie season, showing extreme competitiveness against his much more experienced and established teammate, Esteban Ocon.