Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has admitted that talks have been held with Oliver Bearman about a future drive for RB. However, the chances of luring the teenager away from Ferrari have been dismissed after his superb performance at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Bearman was entrusted by the Scuderia to replace illness-stricken Carlos Sainz for the race in Jeddah at only a day’s notice. A gutsy qualifying performance saw the 18-year-old narrowly miss out on Q3, and he powered through the field on race day to finish an impressive seventh.
Attention has already turned towards how Bearman can find his way onto the F1 grid on a full-time basis next year. The Chelmsford-born youngster has been part of the Ferrari Driver Academy since 2021, but with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc lining up for the Prancing Horse after this season, he may have to find alternative arrangements.
A move to Red Bull’s second team, RB, was briefly touted, and Marko has acknowledged that talks took place between relevant parties.
“We actually had an informative conversation with him,” the 80-year-old told OE24. “But he was already at the Ferrari Academy by then.” Marko then rubbished the idea that Red Bull could be in a position to take him on before sending him back to Ferrari as the complete package, describing such a move as ‘inconceivable’.
Instead, Marko feels that the best move for Bearman would be to join one of Ferrari’s customer teams – Haas – for an F1 apprenticeship towards the back of the pack.
“[Ferrari] bought Hamilton at a high price and have a long-term contract with Leclerc,” he continued. “I would put the boy [Bearman] in a smaller team like Haas next year. A year of learning has never done anyone any harm, it also takes the pressure off.”
Bearman himself currently has his hands full in F2, where he lines up alongside fellow motorsport prodigy Kimi Antonelli at Prema Racing. His jaunt in Jeddah, and consequent absence from the second round of the F2 season, has left him bottom of the drivers’ standings.
But that will mean little to Bearman if he manages to secure an F1 seat for next year. When asked whether that is the aim, he said: “I think so. It depends on how I get on. That’s a childhood dream that I would love to realise.
“I need to keep pushing in F2 to make sure that I can get that F1 seat – that’s my main goal for this year. I need to keep up the good work and not let any of this faze me because you’re only as good as your last race.”
