Ollie Bearman having one of Formula 1’s only 100% point-scoring records in 2024 inevitably had an asterisk attached given it related to just two race appearances.

It stood as a marker of the quality of his super-sub appearances for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia and Haas in Azerbaijan but is no longer valid even though it was only being used ironically.

The perfect start is gone after the 19-year-old suffered the first stumble of his fledgling F1 career in a Brazilian Grand Prix that tested and caught out even some of F1’s most experienced and successful drivers.

Bearman’s last-gasp call-up to replace the unwell Kevin Magnussen for a second time at Haas on the Friday morning at Interlagos ultimately accelerated his grand prix racing education more than any normal race weekend ever could.

He experienced a sprint event format for the first time, learned a new track, contested qualifying and the grand prix in the same day after stormy weather prompted an abnormal schedule change, and got to the flag in a chaotic race.

For Bearman’s learning curve, and the team’s too, this was invaluable given Bearman’s got a full-time drive with Haas next year. His Azerbaijan Grand Prix appearance was already a useful ‘race zero’ of 2025 but Bearman’s reserve season has turned out to be so unusually prolific, Brazil ended up being another bonus.

Ferrari’s Fred Vasseur described it as a “more than difficult” weekend to step into but was “a good lesson, a good experience”, and Bearman’s Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu went even further.

“This is a priceless experience for him, and for us,” said Komatsu.

“Yes, the pain is that we should have, still with this car, scored points, but we didn't. But that's the price we paid, right?

“Ollie’s incredibly talented. He's an incredibly fast learner. But you cannot expect to throw him in last minute – I mean, what he did on Friday was remarkable. Remarkable.

“I don't think I can expect him to deal with these conditions and score points. Still the potential he showed was great.”

‘I WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH’

Bearman’s no longer eligible for the post-season young driver test in Abu Dhabi as he’s now competed in three grands prix. That’s a whole day of running that’s been sacrificed – but realistically, that is not as beneficial as the track time Bearman got in Brazil.

He’s learned his harshest lessons yet, which he’ll need to learn from while having the resilience to shrug off any disappointment and not let impact his confidence. As both he and Haas did probably miss out on more points in Brazil.