After dream debut, Bearman’s path to F1 is clearer than ever،
When Ollie Bearman started karting at the age of 6, Sebastian Vettel was dominating Formula 1. The combination of Vettel's success – which included four consecutive titles from 2010 to 2013 – and his surprise 2015 move to F1's most famous team, Ferrari, impressed the young driver.
“I grew up watching Vettel dominate,” Bearman told ESPN after the 18-year-old Ferrari reserve driver's remarkable F1 debut at the Saudi Grand Prix. “I was a big fan of his, especially in his later years, when he was at Ferrari.”
So it was somewhat surreal when Bearman found himself replacing Carlos Sainz – the man who replaced Vettel at Ferrari in 2021 – in Jeddah. Sainz had been diagnosed with appendicitis on the morning of qualifying, meaning Bearman only had one practice session to get up to speed before putting everything on the line to try to qualify as high as possible on the grid for the 50-lap race.
Remarkably, he secured an 11th starting place, just 0.036 seconds away from a top ten finish, meaning he would line up on the grid close to the points for his F1 debut. It would be by far the biggest race of a young career.
As pressure and hype built before the start, Bearman's phone rang with a text message. It was from Vettel.
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“He sent me a message before the race, saying good luck and enjoy it,” Bearman recalled. “I think the main thing was just to enjoy it, because it was a very stressful situation, and I think he and other people helped me step back and see how stressful it was. a great opportunity and not to get upset.
“He said he was sending me hugs, and I responded by saying I was a big fan. I was a bit of a fanboy there!”
What followed has been well documented. Bearman improved with each lap of the race, moving up to seventh place and then placing himself by a respectable margin over teammate Charles Leclerc in the closing stages.
“I watched the race five or six times, just watching every moment,” Bearman said. “It was such a great experience.”
His excellent performances have boosted his claims for a potential move to Haas next year, especially if he lives up to expectations in Formula 2 this season and challenges for the feeder series' title. As much as the race in Saudi Arabia marked a starting point for his F1 career, it represented the realization of a dream that first took shape 12 years ago on the Buckmore Park karting track in Kent, United Kingdom.
“The first time I went karting, I was six years old,” Bearman recalls. “I say karting, I was literally learning which pedal did what and how to start and stop, so it was pretty basic.
“After that, I bought a go-kart for Christmas – thanks Santa – and I would just go on Wednesdays and Saturdays to a local track with my dad, and it was just a lot of fun. Eventually it was got a little bit more serious and we were heading off to race weekends and soon found ourselves at the British Championships.
“I think, of course, I already wanted to be an F1 driver, but everyone says that in karting.”
Bearman's desire to race came from his father, David, who earned his money in insurance but also dabbled in motorsport, alongside his own father, when Ollie was just a child. boy.
“It wasn’t at a very high level, just with small sports cars,” Ollie said of the racing careers of the previous two generations of Bearmans. “They used to compete in the UK but they were very busy and of course it's an expensive sport so they weren't able to take it up professionally but just as a pass. time.
“That’s really where my interest in racing started. I remember going to watch them as a kid and the smell of the rubber, the fuel, I fell in love straight away. “
It became clear quite early in his karting career that Bearman junior could go further than his father and seriously progress up the single-seater ladder. After successes in European and international karting events, he moved to Formula 4 and competed in the German and Italian championships in 2020 before winning both in his second attempt in 2021.
The Italian Motorsport Federation noticed his success and nominated him to participate in the Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA) Global Recognition Final in Maranello in October 2021. The process, which took into account mental and physical skills as well as driving talent, put him head-to-head with four other hopefuls for a permanent spot at the FDA and a Ferrari-backed path to Formula 1.
Bearman excelled at trials, and at the age of 16 – just months after taking his GCSE exams at King Edward VI Grammar School in his home town of Chelmsford – was registered by the FDA and invited to move to Maranello. This life-changing moment led him to forgo further education in the form of a bachelor's degree and a college degree so he could focus solely on racing.
“My mother in particular was really against me dropping out of college, especially in the early years,” Bearman said. “Once we got closer to the time I left, it became more and more clear that it was actually a viable option. But I'm sure my mom will always be sad that I didn't go to university, because I went to a high school, a pretty smart school, and I got good grades!
“I'm sure it's one of his regrets, but after my GCSEs it became clear that I had an opportunity to succeed in racing, and you either go all out or you go half-heartedly and combine school and racing, and I wasn't about to miss this opportunity.
“Worst case scenario I can always go back to school. I don't have a chance anymore. I've been all in since 2021 when I finished my GCSEs and so far it's been good decision, and I hope it continues to be.”
Bearman excelled at languages at school, achieving the highest possible grade in GCSE German while learning Latin, which was still on the curriculum at his 473-year-old grammar school. He moved to Maranello in January 2022 and quickly turned to learning Italian to communicate more effectively with mechanics at Ferrari and its Italian-based F2 team, Prema.
“I speak Italian very well,” he said. “I had a lot of languages as a base since school, so I had a brain for learning languages, and over the years I had a lot of free time in Italy and I spent it trying to 'learn.
“A lot of mechanics at Prema and Ferrari are Italian, and when I communicated with them in the first year, it was difficult, but now I'm learning. I'm happy that I managed to talk a little, and that's a my passion. I hope that one day I will become perfectly fluent.”
In his first full year at FDA, he finished third in F3 before moving to F2 last season. He has won four races in his debut F2 campaign, including sprint and feature race victories on the streets of Baku, leaving him sixth in the championship at the end of 2023 and a strong favorite for this year's title.
At Prema in 2024 he will partner Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who has also been linked with a move to F1 next year as a possible replacement for Lewis Hamilton when the seven-time champion leaves Mercedes for Ferrari. The season got off to a difficult start for both drivers when Prema struggled to understand the latest generation of F2 car at the opening round in Bahrain, but before being recalled to F1 with Ferrari in Jeddah, Bearman placed his F2 car in pole position.
After his impressive debut in F1 (which, oddly enough, means he now has six points in F1 and none in F2), an F2 title no longer appears to be a prerequisite for Bearman to take the plunge in 2025. That doesn't However, he wants to secure the title and consolidate his claim to a place in the elite.
“I already have a very good feeling in F2 this year and I feel like we know where we went wrong in Bahrain because we managed to come from the bottom of the grid to the top. [in qualifying in Jeddah]“Of course I am last in the championship and missed out on a win and good points in Jeddah, but an opportunity like this was too good to miss and I would do the same without hesitation.
“Now I'm fully focused on F2, I have a few races less to score points, but I have no doubt in my ability to do it if we can have the same level of competition as in Jeddah. “
As a member of the FDA, Bearman benefits from the support of one of the biggest teams in motorsport, including regular access to Ferrari's state-of-the-art simulator for F1 and F2 preparation. After his F1 debut in Saudi Arabia, he also has something very special that none of his rivals in F2 can match. This could be the difference in what should be a very close championship battle.
“I feel like I got my foot in the door to the F1 world after Jeddah,” Bearman said. “I'm a bit more known than before, which is great, and I feel like I've been to an F1 weekend, I know what I'm missing. It's a big motivation for me. 'future, and I hope it grows.' me to ride even faster on the track and hopefully one day I'll have a chance to get that full-time.”
