Oliver Bearman must make a careful start to his second season in Formula 1 to avoid triggering a race ban, says Haas’s head of driver development.

He picked up his tenth penalty point in the final race of last year, which leaves him just two away from from collecting an automatic race ban.

“From our point of view, we have to be a little bit more careful,” acknowledged Haas’s head of strategy and driver development Ed Brand. “Obviously we don’t want him to get a race ban. He’s [been] performing really well.”

However Brand pointed out few of Bearman’s penalty points had come from incidents involving rivals, which is typically the most common cause of endorsements. He collected seven points for two separate incidents where he failed to respond correctly to red flags.

“A lot of those points [in 2025] came from silly mistakes, not even in the race,” Brand told the BBC. “A red flag [incident at the] pit entry in Silverstone and the same in Monaco. Silly mistakes, silly rookie mistakes, which he has learnt from.

“If it was ‘driving standards’ kind of points, maybe we would have a slightly different approach. But we were in a position [in 2024], which was the same. We had Kevin [Magnussen] who did receive a race ban, which wasn’t the highlight of the season.”

Bearman will remain at high risk of collecting a ban over the first six grands prix of the season. Two penalty points will be removed from his licence between the sprint race and grand prix in Montreal.

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Data: Formula 1 drivers’ penalty points

Haas has bolstered its reserve driver line-up for the upcoming season by hiring former Alpine racer Jack Doohan alongside Ryo Hirakawa.

In his rookie season, Bearman was Haas’s top-scoring driver, picking up three more points than experienced team mate Esteban Ocon. Brand said Bearman’s core speed is his most important attribute and the team can work on areas where he needs to improve.

“He’s naturally very, very fast,” said Brand. “Sometimes it’s [about] reining that in. We’ve had it a couple of times where he just keeps pushing, pushing, pushing, and then that’s when the mistakes come.

“But naturally, he’s so fast. You know you put him on a track he doesn’t know and he’s immediately there. It’s the best way to have it, kind of reigning him in slightly. But he is very good listener. He picks things up very quickly.”

Oliver Bearman’s penalty points ahead of 2026 season

Date Event Session Infringement Points
23/5/2025 Monaco Grand Prix Qualifying ‘Car 87 overtook car 55 under red flag.’ 2
5/7/2025 British Grand Prix Third practice ‘Failure to comply with a red flag’ 4
7/9/2025 Italian Grand Prix Grand prix ‘Car 87 collided with car 55 at turn four’ 2
8/11/2025 Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint race ‘Driving in a manner deemed potentially dangerous on the straight between turn three and turn four’ 1
7/12/2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Grand prix ‘Car 87 made more than one change of direction to defend its position’ 1

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