Oliver Bearman starred on his Formula 1 debut at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix back in March, but his F2 campaign has been more difficult. After five rounds, he’s sitting 13th in the championship.
The mitigation for Bearman is that he missed both races in Jeddah due to his Ferrari commitments. He received a late call-up from the Scuderia to replace an unwell Carlos Sainz.
The teenager had been due to start on pole for the Feature Race, so he potentially missed out on a big haul of points. But he hasn’t been able to make up for that at other events.
Bearman failed to score at the opening round in Bahrain, and only managed to collect a combined six points across the Australia and Imola weekends. Fortunately, Monaco was more productive for the Briton.
He only qualified 12th, but he was able to climb up to fourth in the Feature Race to pick up 12 points. That puts him on 18 overall, 62 adrift of championship leader Paul Aron at Hitech.
Intriguingly, Ferrari junior Bearman is matched up with Mercedes academy driver Kimi Antonelli at Prema. And both could be competing on the F1 grid next year.
Damon Hill loves Oliver Bearman overtake on Kimi Antonelli
Halfway through the race, Antonelli emerged from his pit stop just ahead of Bearman, and the Prema duo went wheel-to-wheel. The Italian aggressively shut the door on his teammate into Massanet and Mirabeau.
Antonelli had the inside for the Loews Hairpin, but Bearman was able to outwit him with a ‘switch-back’ manoeuvre that allowed him to skate past. The 2025 Mercedes candidate ultimately finished seventh.
The official F2 Instagram page posted a reel showing their battle, and 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill shared it on his story. He was thrilled by the intensity of their scrap.
“Maybe we should just watch these two on Monaco Sunday?” he wrote after an F1 Grand Prix that featured just four on-track overtakes.
Which FP1 sessions is Oliver Bearman doing this year?
Haas have allotted Bearman six FP1 outings as they put him through his paces ahead of a potential full-time F1 debut in 2025. He completed the first of those at the Emila Romagna Grand Prix earlier this month.
As you can see in the table below, he’ll be back behind the wheel of the VF-24 in Barcelona in around three weeks’ time. In fact, he’ll feature in three of the six remaining weekends before the summer break.
Most of his appearances are synced up with the Formula 2 calendar, barring his run at the Mexico City GP in October. He’ll then complete the programme at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Sky Sports F1’s Rachel Brookes has heard in the paddock that Bearman is in line for a seat with Ayao Komatsu’s team next year. Nico Hulkenberg’s move to Audi has opened up a vacancy.
Journalist Edd Straw adds that the move is ‘as close as it can be’ without being 100% confirmed. As such, Bearman can view the upcoming practice sessions as a preview of what’s in store on a much more regular basis next year.
The post ‘Just watch’: Damon Hill very impressed by potential 2025 Haas candidate’s move on Kimi Antonelli in Monaco appeared first on F1 Oversteer.