Ferrari junior driver Oliver Bearman believes that there is ‘no doubt’ that he will be ready to make the step up onto the F1 grid should teams come calling for the 2025 season. The 18-year-old is attracting serious interest from Haas after completing two FP1 sessions for the American team in 2023.
Bearman made his mark in single-seater racing in 2022 after finishing third in his rookie Formula 3 campaign, before making the step up to Formula 2 in 2023. The Ferrari junior driver claimed four victories, including a sensational clean sweep in Baku, en route to a P6 finish in the standings.
Alongside his impressive rookie campaign efforts in F2, Bearman strengthened his ties with Haas in 2023. The 18-year-old ran FP1 sessions in Mexico and Abu Dhabi, impressing team bosses with his level-headed approach and his pace.
With both Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen out of contract come the end of next season, Guenther Steiner could be in the market for a new driver and Bearman will likely be top of Haas’ list.
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Asked by F1.com whether or not he feels ready to make the step up, Bearman replied: “I know I’d be ready to go. I know I have what it takes, but of course, preparation would be important and, first of all, I’d have to do a good job in F2 – that’s step one. But I have no doubt that if I get a call-up, I’m ready to go.
“Once you join F1, you’re going up against guys with a lot of races under their belts, and coming in as a rookie is a difficult job. It’s something that we’ve thought about and it will be really important that before I start an F1 campaign, I need to be really prepared. Hopefully, that looks like more FP1s, and there’ll be some private testing as well.
“I don’t have any say on that, but in an ideal world, that will be how I approach an F1 season. The fact that you can use the 2022 cars will be really helpful because it’s the same generation of car and not much has changed since then. So, that’s good to know and hopefully, we can make use of that as well.”
If Bearman is to place his name in the conversation for an F1 seat then he will have to impress in his sophomore F2 campaign. The Essex-born teenager joins forces with Mercedes’ junior sensation Kimi Antonelli at PREMA Racing with the expectation being to mount an assault on the title.
