Ahead of Imola GP, F2 driver Oliver Bearman talked with selected media, including LWOS, about his future in F1 and the ongoing F2 season.
At Imola, the fourth round of the F2 season begins and Oliver “Ollie” Bearman is looking for more points and wins. The Englishman seems to want to focus entirely on his second season in Formula 2, while rumors about his future increase. In the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Ollie will take the place of Magnussen and will drive in FP1 for Haas. This will be a chance for him to show his potential in front of the eyes of the main Formula 1 teams.
Oliver Bearman between F2 and F1
Last year Ollie Bearman finished his first season in sixth place, second among the Rookies behind Victor Martins. With four wins, including a Clean Sweep in Baku, Ollie quickly won the hearts of his fans. After a good season last year, the goal of the Englishman was to improve in 2024 the past results. However, in motorsport not everything always goes as planned.
Prema had some difficulty in finding the right pace in the initial round of the season. Bearman had to settle for a 16th and 15th position in the Sprint and the Feature Race respectively. But in Jeddah, things seemed to have changed. Since Free Practice, the young Englishman proved to be very fast, and in qualifying he managed to get pole position. However, when Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur calls you to replace Carlos Sainz, who has had appendicitis, you can’t refuse. So Bearman proved what he was made of and that he had what it takes to run in the master class. Ollie finished the race in seventh place, collecting important points for his Formula 1 resume. His performance has been praised by several drivers and journalists, who quickly realized what a star he is in the ranks of the Ferrari Driver Academy.
“I think in Jeddah, I proved that I was ready to jump in at short notice. I’m quite happy with the job that I did there. Hopefully it’s not the case to drive again because of course my main focus is F2, at least for this season. But I keep my phone on loud. If I get the call, I’m ready to go”
Bearman is ready to get back in the car for any occasion, but for now, his main goal remains F2 and, above all, demonstrate his true potential. In Melbourne, due to a technical problem in qualifying, he started 16th. In the Sprint Race, he was penalized for a contact with Duerksen and was relegated to 14th position. On Sunday he finished P9, recovering seven positions. For Bearman, however, the results obtained do not represent the real potential of the car, and he feels that Imola can be a good opportunity to prove what he and the team are capable of doing:
“I think Barrain is a bit of an outlier, even last year we struggled a bit there as a team. Then for the rest, I was on pole in Jedder andI was also going to do at least top three in Australia. However, I had an engine failure but I think it looks a lot worse than it is. The pace in Australia was very strong and I was not able to show it because I had a technical failure in qualifying but that’s part of the game. That’s part of racing, you have to be prepared for that at some point. Nothing is ever perfect with these any race cars. So yeah, I need to now bring some consistencyand I think now’s the time to do it. Now we have the tracks that we know in Europe, I thinkand I hope that Prema will surprise everyone quite soon, the team is doing a great job with a new car.”
Bearman adds that in high-speed circuits the team was very strong. Therefore, the Italian team could give a good show to Italian fans.
Taking the wheel for FP1 tomorrow! 🙌🇮🇹@OllieBearman will get his first taste of the VF-24 alongside Nico for the first session of the weekend.#HaasF1 #ImolaGP pic.twitter.com/qn8dWIoJiK
— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) May 16, 2024
A look into the future of Ollie Bearman
After Saudi Arabia questions about the future of Oliver Bearman have multiplied. The same happened after the departure of Nico Hülkenberg from Haas. The German leaves a free seat in the team and Kevin Magnussen’s Future also seems very uncertain. In the meantime, Bearman’s name has started to circulate more and more often around the orbit of the American team. At Imola, for example, the Englishman will drive for the second time in a Free Practice session with Haas. As Bearman himself said, his performance in F2, in Jeddah, and in the Rookie sessions of Free Practice in F1, serve to showcase his potential:
“I don’t deserve to have the Haas seat that seems to be vacant just because I had a good F1 race. I have to work for that, making first of all good performances in Formula 2, proving that I can fight in the lead and fight for the championship. I hope I can show what I’m capable of and show why I deserve that place.”
Kevin Magnussen also wanted to comment on the English rumors in Haas. Specifically the fact that he could be his new mentor. The Dane said, “I’m not here to take care of the children.” Bearman wanted to clarify the situation:
“I don’t think he’ll take care of me. I can look after myself.”
