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Oliver Bearman may be a rookie in Formula 1 but he is already proving to be an exceptional talent - even if he does still have to pinch himself over who he is competing with.
"I never thought I would be racing against Max [Verstappen] in real life, but I guess some things change," said the 20-year-old after a brilliant drive at Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix saw him secure fourth place, his best-ever finish in F1.
But Bearman didn't just race with Verstappen, he produced some bold and impressive driving that even the four-time world champion would have been proud of.
He even kept his cool in the latter stages of the race when he was being hunted down by Oscar Piastri, who started the day as championship leader and needed to pass Bearman to ensure he left Mexico in that position.
But instead Bearman held on, with Piastri's fifth-place finish and victory for his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris meaning the latter now leads the standings by one point with four races to go.
Based on this showing, it is not unreasonable to predict that Bearman could one day be in the same position as fellow Brit Norris and challenging for titles.
For now, however, he is just happy to be competitive with much more experienced drivers.
"Definitely a crazy race," he said. "I'm a bit lost for words - at one point we were looking at the podium. I was bringing it home with a lot of nerves.
"At the end, P4 is a great result and we got both cars in the points. We really needed that good result, so I'm really, really happy.
"It was a crazy race. Good lap one - stayed out of trouble, just about. Then the incident with Max and Lewis [Hamilton] - I managed to benefit from that as well."
Bearman's big moment came early on in the race.
On lap six, a battle between two multiple world champions saw Verstappen challenge Lewis Hamilton into Turn One, forcing the Ferrari driver wide, only to then cut the corner at Turn Three.
Hamilton came back at him on the run to Turn Four, but Verstappen, on the inside, braked late and Hamilton ran off the track, himself cutting the corner at Turn Five.
That move earned Hamilton a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, while Verstappen was delayed and passed by Bearman, who took advantage of the tussle by passing them and George Russell into Turn Six.
It was a bold and brilliant bit of opportunistic driving that paid off.
"When you race against someone like Max [Verstappen] he doesn't give you an inch so you need to fight the same way back," Bearman told Sky Sports.
"Going wheel-to-wheel with him is a very cool moment as well because I was watching him since I started watching F1 basically, and I think he's the best driver in F1.
"Although he did a better race than us, we had a cool fight."
Just two years ago Bearman was in his debut season in F2.
He made history in that campaign as he became the first driver in the history of the category to top every practice session and win the feature race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Bearman started karting when he was eight years old, made his single-seater debut in 2020, won both the Italian and German Formula 4 titles in 2021, finished third in his debut season in Formula 3 in 2022 and sixth in F2 in 2023, when brilliant weekends were punctuated by difficult ones, as is often the case for a rookie.
He began last season as one of the favourites in F2 but was handed the opportunity to make his Formula 1 debut at last year's Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, when he was reserve driver at Ferrari and had to replace Carlos Sainz, who was ruled out through sickness.
Bearman finished a hugely impressive seventh in that race and was clearly a sought-after talent, with Haas confirming in July 2024 that he would join them for this season.
In his first full campaign as a Formula 1 driver he has finished in the top 10 seven times, culminating in his fourth-place finish on Sunday.
"Obviously my goal in life is to fight for that week in and week out," he said.
"I didn't expect to be racing a McLaren, a Red Bull, a Mercedes, or even fighting with a Ferrari in a way.
"I expected that in future years, but to do it already this year is a very special feeling and I think that motivates everyone to hopefully do that again in the near future."
