Magnussen out for Brazilian GP, Bearman gets full race weekend
Kevin Magnussen will sit out the entire Brazilian Grand Prix weekend due to illness, with reserve driver Oliver Bearman remaining in the car until Sunday.
On Friday morning Haas announced that Magnussen would have to sit out the Friday running after being taken ill, and that he would be replaced by Bearman for free practice and sprint qualifying. That also meant Bearman would stay in the car for Saturday morning’s sprint.
But in a further update Haas has now confirmed that Magnussen won’t be in the car at all this weekend, with Bearman also taking part in Saturday qualifying and Sunday’s grand prix.
“Haas F1 Team can confirm that Kevin Magnussen will not compete in the São Paulo Grand Prix and Oliver Bearman will race for the team for the remainder of the weekend,” the team shared in a statement, with Motorsport.com understanding Magnussen’s symptoms are nausea-related.
Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1 Team, speaks to the media
Photo by: Lubomir Asenov / Motorsport Images
Bearman acquitted himself well on Friday in his first-ever visit to Sao Paulo’s Interlagos circuit, taking third in free practice before advancing to the top 10 in sprint qualifying.
The Briton was on course for eighth place on the grid, but saw his SQ3 laptime deleted for exceeding track limits and will line up in 10th, ahead of experienced team-mate Nico Hulkenberg in 12th.
Bearman is set for his third grand prix start and his second for Haas, having already replaced Magnussen in Baku when the Danish driver served a one-race ban for accumulating too many penalty points.
The 19-year-old Ferrari junior, who has already been signed by Haas to step up to a full-time race seat in 2025, also deputised for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in Saudi Arabia when the Spaniard was treated for appendicitis.
Bearman’s third start also means Haas will have to rethink its plans for the Abu Dhabi post-season test, which Bearman was set to take part in for his 2025 employer.
Drivers are not allowed to have started in more than two grands prix to be eligible to drive the team’s second car designated for rookies, while the teams’ other car is used by regular drivers for Pirelli tyre testing.
Additional reporting by Oleg Karpov
