by VALERIO BARRETTA
Steiner, love at first sight with Bearman
Nowadays young drivers can only steal the show in those hours of FP1 intended for their development, or with the help of fate that removes a starting driver from the fight. To Oliver Bearman both scenarios have happened.
In Jeddah the Briton from the Ferrari Driver Academy impressed, coming close to Q3 and beating sharks like Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton on his race debut, but above all always keeping calm and absorbing a huge amount of information in a very short time. Qualities that Bearman had already demonstrated in 2023, when he was called to carry out two free practice sessions for Haas. The current team principal Ayao Komatsu has great memories of those days. AND Günther Steiner also highlighted the 18-year-old's veteran calm.
Steiner's words
“He did a great job. Replacing Carlos Sainz at the last minute was a lot of pressure for him, it must have been very difficult to handle. But you wouldn't think so. He was very calm the whole time. Jeddah is one of the most difficult circuits on the calendar, it's not easy. If you make a mistake, it is usually very costly. He did a good job and obviously the teams will keep an eye on him“, this is Steiner's comment. “When he drove in FP1 for us (in Mexico and Abu Dhabi, ed.)I never feared he would do something unexpected. He was always in control of the situation, and he also had it in Saudi Arabia. She didn't surprise me what she did in Jeddah, and I think he has a great future in this sport. He just needs to keep calm and I have no doubt he will“.
“Last year Fred Vasseur called me and asked if we could run Ollie in free practice, because he thought he could do a good job. For me it would have been difficult to argue with him about young players, he has great experience with them“, he concluded. “I told Ollie not to overdo it, but I was never worried he might do something stupid. He's an intelligent guy, I immediately had the feeling that he knew what to do: he understood that he just had to gain confidence with the car and bring it home, his career didn't depend on those FP1s. He knows that if he does a good job he has a good future in F1“.
#BearmanHaas #Steiner #love #sight
