Among Bearman's many merits (“He did a fantastic job” Leclerc's comment after the tests) there is also one that warmed the hearts of the fans: the youngest British driver to make his debut in F1 used the number 38 which in the history of Ferrari had been used for the last time in Monaco, in 1962 by Lorenzo Bandini. A blow to the heart for many.
But Ollie, this is his nickname, on the day of yet another Verstappen masterpiece (stratospheric pole with a time of 1'27″472, new circuit record) left everyone stunned: 11th fastest, knocked out of Q3 by a hair's breadth .
Looking at him, Oliver Bearman appears even younger than he turned 18 on May 8th. But those who know him well already define him as “predestined”. And fate actually kissed him: he replaced Carlos Sainz on the red one in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The Spaniard had to undergo emergency surgery for appendicitis and therefore left his place to the young Englishman, third official driver of the Maranello team.
On his debut in free practice, Bearman set the tenth fastest time on the grid. Not bad for a rookie. But then again, yesterday in Jeddah, he had achieved pole position in Formula 2. Then in testing, another masterpiece.
But where does it come from? He arrives at Ferrari in 2021 thanks to the Ferrari Academy which selects the best talents around the world. First, like everyone else, or almost everyone, he started his career with karting where he had a long journey until 2019. In 2020 he participated in the Formula 4 championship in Germany, in 2021 he doubled his commitment by also participating in the Italian championship: he won both, becoming the first driver to become champion in both in the same season.
Then Formula 1 where he arrived for the first time in 2023, participating in two free practice sessions with the Ferrari-powered Haas. And earlier this year he was made official as Ferrari's third driver. The rest is news. With a final flash of rare humility in F1: after having achieved the ambitious goal set (getting into Q2) and having very narrowly missed the incredible goal of getting into Q3 (“By only doing FP3 he immediately got into the rhythm and felt comfortable with the car. I'm happy for him, it went well, it's a special day. It will be his first race and I hope that tomorrow we can both have a great race and get good points for the team” explained Leclerc) apologized to his team via radio. Thanks Ollie. A life lesson to many other drivers who blame the car for everything.
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