Rookie No. 3: Oliver Bearman – A Future Ferrari star in the making

Haas F1 did the unthinkable by replacing their most senior and loyal drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg with younger drivers like Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman. So how important are these drivers to the Haas F1 team's future? Among these two, Bearman is a Ferrari development driver and was called as the future of Ferrari by team boss Ayao Komatsu. He will make his full-time debut at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix. But how important is the 19-year-old Brit for the Ferrari team? Let's check out.

Olliver Bearman's F1 journey

A school dropout

Oliver James Bearman is a Brit by birth born in 2005. He is from a good financial family as his father was the Founder of Aventum Group an insurance firm. Since childhood, Bearman was very fond of racing and at the age of 16, he left his school and joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in Modena, Italy. 

Multiple-time Karting champion

He started his Karting career in 2013 and continued till 2020. In all these years he became a multiple-time Karting champion. He won the Super 1 national championship, Kartmasters British Grand Prix, IAME International Final, Euro series, and Winter Cup.

Two F4 titles in one year

Olie raced in Italian and German F4 championships simultaneously. He won the Italy F4 championship with 11 race wins, 15 podium finishes, and 343 points which is 111 points ahead of his nearest rival. In the German F4 campaign, he won 6 races, 295 points and 11 podiums and became the first driver to win two F4 titles in a year.

Formula 1 journey

In 2023, Ollie got his hands on the Ferrari F1 car when he tested the machine on the Fiorano testing track. He made his F1 debut with Haas F1 during the 2023 Mexican Grand Prix free practice session. In 2024, he made his official F1 racing debut at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix replacing Carlos Sainz Jr who had Appendicitis issues. 

He qualified 11th and in the main race, he finished seventh ahead of Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton and scored his first F1 points. Then the Haas F1 team signed him on a multi-year contract from the F1 2025 season. He made his early debut at the Azerbaijan GP when Kevin Magnussen was banned for one race. He finished in 10th ahead of his teammate Nico Hulkenberg and brought points to the team.

A Bright Future Ahead

Olliver Bearman will make his full-season debut this year. His goals will be less but the most important one will be to score more points than his teammate Esteban Ocon. Ferrari has signed Lewis Hamilton who is 40 years of age. We don't know how much racing is left in him, and all Bearman has to do is be consistent and score points for the team. And one day he could wear the red suit for the Prancing horse.

Also Read: Rookie No 4: Jack Doohan- 2025 F1 season is a Do or Die battle for the young Australian