What Oliver Bearman’s Tears in Mexico Reveal About Modern F1

Following his stellar performance at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, in which he got his best F1 result yet with a P4 finish, Bearman had a wholesome interaction with his parents, David and Terri Bearman, and girlfriend, Alicia Torriani. 

While talking to reporters about his wheel-to-wheel battle with Max Verstappen, Bearman spotted his family outside of the media pen with tears of joy in their eyes. The sight made Bearman’s own eyes well up as he waved to them. It was a sweet interaction, showing not only how much this success means to those who support Bearman, but also how much that support and the people it is coming from mean to him as well.

Once completely unheard of in the F1 world, moments of visible emotion like this are becoming more common. Last year we saw Lewis Hamilton get visibly emotional after his win in Silverstone, and Charles Leclerc even teared up after getting virtual pole in a sim racing event ahead of the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix. And at the beginning of the 2025 season, Isack Hadjar was in tears after his crash at the formation lap of a rainy Australian Grand Prix. 

Drivers are also becoming more open about the internal hardships they have faced. Both Hamilton and Lando Norris have spoken candidly about their struggles with mental health, and how this has affected their personal and professional lives. 

And it is these instances of vulnerability that bring a level of humanity to a sport where the stereotypical image of a racecar driver is more akin to a rock star, living a life none of us could even dream of, and where their status as the best of the best often makes them feel untouchable. 

Every one of us has cried. Whether it’s from joy, sadness, relief, stress, or something else, every single one of us has, at some point in life, felt an emotion so strongly that we have shed tears. It is a profoundly human experience to go through. And seeing drivers expressing feelings brings out an empathy towards them and makes us feel closer to them.

This is incredibly relevant in a time where drivers, not teams, are becoming the biggest touchpoint of connection between F1 and its fans. Earlier in the sport’s history, fans were drawn in more by the constructors than the individual drivers. But as access to the athletes increased–particularly in recent years, with the shift towards more behind-the-scenes content like Drive to Survive and a greater social media presence–the emotional investment fans have had towards those personalities also began to grow. 

In fact, the 2025 Global F1 Fan Survey, conducted by F1 and the Motorsport Network, showed that audience engagement, particularly with younger viewers, is now largely driven by narratives, storytelling, and driver personalities. Within Gen Z audiences, 41% of viewers said that the drivers were their primary draw to the sport, compared to the 25% who said a specific team was their draw. What’s more, two thirds of Gen Z respondents said that they felt personally inspired by an F1 driver or team.

Identity is becoming all the more important to F1 fans, and being able to see ourselves in these raw, unfiltered, and emotionally vulnerable moments with the drivers is one way those connections can form. F1 will always be entrenched in prestige and exclusivity, but instances like Bearman’s moment with his family remind us that fans aren’t watching just because this is the pinnacle of motorsport. We are watching because we feel something for the human being behind the wheel, and feeling is truly what connects us to the sport.

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Cover via Ferrari Media Centre.

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