Gradually emerging as the rookie of the year, Oliver Bearman admits that going head-to-head with Max Verstappen was scary.

Honestly, I was, s******g myself, going side by side with Max," the Haas driver told reporters post-race, having finished fourth, his best result to date and equalling Romain Grosjean's previous best finish for the American team in Austria in 2018, "but it's really cool to go relatively well with these people that I've been following since I started watching F1.

"I had a good start. I slotted myself between the two Mercs, I think, and then actually, in those laps, I had good pace. You know, I was able to stay in DRS.

"George lost DRS to the car ahead," he continued, "and then Hamilton and Max had a bit of a coming together, and I benefited from that too.

"I had them in my mirrors during the race, it was probably the most pressure that I had so far," he admitted. "I didn't expect to be fighting against these top cars this year or at this stage of my career," he continued, "but it gives me a great feeling for the future. And hopefully that can be the normal thing."

A protege of the Ferrari Driver Academy, Beaman made his debut last season for the Scuderia when he replaced an ill Carlos Sainz in Saudi Arabia, the youngster finishing an impressive seventh. He subsequently replaced an ill Kevin Magnussen in Azerbaijan, once again finishing in the points (10th).

"We were doing something right today... quality pace," said Bearman. "I would stand by the fact that I'm really, really happy with it."

"The car has been competitive at every race excluding the opening round, and that's credit to the team," said Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu. "We knew a big result would come one day, but we couldn't force it, we had to focus on our own race, and that's what we did today."

At one stage it looked as though the Haas driver might actually score a podium, but like a number of its rivals Haas opted for a second pit stop.

"At points on that medium, I was, from what we understood, I was bringing that tyre to the end until I got called to box," said Bearman. "I need to look back at exactly what happened, but I think in our position, it would have been a bit risky trying to stay out and go for the podium and potentially finish sixth or seventh.

"I think we did the right choice by consolidating," he admitted, "even if it maybe stopped us from having the chance of a podium. But we finished fourth still. It's not bad."

"The car has been competitive at every race excluding the opening round, and that's credit to the team," said team boss Ayao Komatsu. "We knew a big result would come one day, but we couldn't force it, we had to focus on our own race, and that's what we did today."

Meanwhile, Bearfman's other boss, Fred Vasseur, was equally impressed.

"At one stage, I was thinking about a podium for him," he laughed. "No, he did very well. But if you have a look from the beginning of the season, he's doing well.

"Quite often, he had a small issue in the weekend, either in qualifying or in the race. But this weekend, he put everything together. He made zero mistakes and he's paying off. It's good also for the team to have two cars up into the points. Congratulations to Ayao and to Ollie."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Mexico City here.