Ollie Bearman has cracked the top ten of Pit Debrief’s 2025 F1 Driver Rankings. The young British driver completed his first full season for Haas alongside Esteban Ocon following a very successful feeder series career. He had also made superb F1 cameo appearances for the American-owned team in 2024, along with one in a Ferrari last year.
Early season shenanigans
After sharing the Formula 2 grid with many future rivals on the grid including Gabriel Bortoleto, the young talent moved on to bigger challenges. Ultimately, throughout his first ever F1 season in 2025 Bearman managed to score 41 points out of the American outfits 79, outperforming his much more experienced French teammate. While it’s also important to take into account the fact that it was the first season for Ocon too at Haas, the actual statistic of performance to point conversion is rather impressive for a debutant.
A subdued early F1 2025 for Bearman and controversy
In Australia, a crash in FP1 meant he also missed FP2 because of the damage. A spin into the gravel early in FP3 saw him continue a nightmare weekend.
The former Prema driver earned his first points in the second race of the year in China, with his on track P10 improved to a P8 following the double Ferrari disqualification. Nevertheless, Bearman had improved his starting position with a bold strategical tyre strategy which saw him extending his first stint, and he also completed beautiful passes later in the Grand Prix. This successful round was followed by other two points finishes in a row, in Japan and Bahrain.
Unfortunately for him, one of the lowest points of his debut year happened in front of his home crowd. In fact, during FP3 he crashed his Haas on pit entry while in red flag conditions because of Bortoleto’s earlier mishap. Bearman had been severely and correctly penalised by the FIA, earning himself a 10-place grid drop and four points on his license.
He also overtook under red flags in practice at Monaco, earning a grid drop of 10 spots that weekend as well.
The highest point of his season at the highest F1 circuit
Around the summer period he consistently performed at an high level, achieving four P11s in a row. Building on his ever growing F1 experience, Bearman then went on to secure his best career finish in Mexico, right in the middle of a series of five top ten finishes in row.
At the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez the Haas driver was in the fight for his first podium finish, dueling wheel-to-wheel with Max Verstappen. Ultimately a correct choice to pit again for a second time got him P4.
His first F1 season in 2025 came to an unfortunate end in Abu Dhabi. In fact, after a rather successful race conducted entirely in the top ten, the Brit received a time penalty for weaving while duelling with Stroll, ultimately dropping to P12.
What to work on for 2026
Bearman’s raw talent definitely showed throughout the entirety of his debut in F1 2025. While there is definitely room for growth and maturing, his driving style is mostly aggressive. The Brit, just like Max Verstappen in his earlier career, doesn’t shy away from risky moves and hard duels.
Once he manages to find a good balance, he will definitely be a driver to watch. However, Bearman is already a great prospect with plenty of talent and the future looks bright.
