Bearman to ‘call on Ferrari experience’ as Haas debut beckons

Oliver Bearman is in no doubt his F1 debut with Ferrari earlier this season will stand him in good stead following his unsurprising call-up from Haas for next weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Bearman will race in F1 for a second time this year, on this occasion as stand-in for the banned Kevin Magnussen after previously deputising for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in Saudi Arabia after the Spanish driver sustained appendicitis.

Magnussen hit the 12 penalty points ceiling after collecting an additional two for causing a collision with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in the Italian Grand Prix, triggering an automatic suspension of his superlicence for one race.

Bearman will now make his race bow with Haas following numerous practice outings, and ahead of his rookie season with the team next year, working alongside Nico Hulkenberg in Baku.

The 19-year-old, again forced to relinquish his duties with Prema in F2, as was the case in Saudi Arabia, at least feels his stunning drive to seventh in Jeddah will prove enormously beneficial ahead of another street circuit outing.

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Bearman said: “It’s definitely more of a challenge stepping in to race as a reserve driver, with limited prep-time and so on, but I’m in the fortunate position of having done it earlier in the year with Scuderia Ferrari, so I can at least call on that experience.

“I’ve also had four FP1 sessions with Haas in the VF-24 already this season, so undoubtedly that will also prove to be valuable in tackling the full race weekend in Baku.

“The team is in good form at the moment and I’ll do my best to be prepared with the time we have available. The aim is to get out there and have a solid weekend in Azerbaijan.”

The drive also affords Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu the opportunity to work with Bearman over a full race weekend, which will prove invaluable going into next season.

Expressing his excitement at the fact Bearman will drive in Baku, Komatsu added: “He’s already shown great promise in his FP1 outings and post-season test, and he performed very well when he drove for Scuderia Ferrari in Saudi Arabia, picking up points in the process.

“This is another excellent opportunity for both Ollie and the team to work together, this time throughout an entire race weekend, and he couldn’t ask for a better team-mate than Nico [Hulkenberg] to provide him with a reference.”