With Oliver Bearman set to join Haas in Formula 1 from next season, both of the team’s current driver as well as fellow FDA graduate Charles Leclerc share their expectations and advice for the young Briton
Speaking ahead of the British Grand Prix and shortly after Haas’ announcement of new signing Ollie Bearman for the 2025 season, Nico Hülkenberg, Kevin Magnussen and Charles Leclerc discuss the young Briton.
Hülkenberg, who leaves Haas at the end of the season to join Sauber, says he sees potential in the young driver. With Formula 1 race experience under his belt having filled in for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari earlier this season, Bearman made headlines and cemented himself as a candidate for a seat in Formula 1.
“Well, congrats, obviously, first of all, to him and his team,” Hülkenberg said. “Obviously, young talent, a lot of potential. It’s going to be interesting how he’s going to, you know, acclimatise, arrive in Formula 1. You know, as a rookie there’s so much to learn, so much to process. So, obviously, he will be at the start of his career.
“I think this year, he’s in a tricky kind of position this year with doing F2 and then, you know, especially the weekends when he does the F1 and when he kind of runs from F2 to F1 and he runs back to F2. I think it is quite challenging. I can only imagine how difficult and disturbing that must be.
“But I think that’s kind of causing him some trouble in F2 to find rhythm, to find consistency. Obviously his outing in Jeddah really put him on the map and the radar where he did a solid job. So yeah, I see potential. But I also know the air is thin here so it will be interesting to see how he’s going to get on here next year.”
Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen, who says he has had little interaction with the incumbent Bearman, explained that Haas is a good starting point for the young driver, as the smaller team will put less stress on him as he develops and settles into Formula 1.
“I wouldn’t say we’ve worked together,” Magnussen explained. “It’s a couple of FP1s where, some of them I’ve been in the other cars, so I’ve just been focused on my own thing, but, yeah, I mean, it’s, what can I say, a young guy getting to live his dream, getting to Formula 1, you know, it’s awesome, right? So, that’s it really.
“I mean, when I got to Formula 1, it was difficult. I’ve talked about that many times. With the expectations, it’s tough to come into a top team that isn’t delivering. The expectations from the team is so big, you know, they actually expected to go and win the championship.
“Whereas coming into a small team, it’s a lot easier. I think, you know, I didn’t do that, so I can’t say for sure, but I think that would have been easier for me, certainly, so, yeah, I don’t think it’s a bad way.”
Paying compliments to Bearman, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc told the media he believes the young Briton is well prepared for Formula 1 as showcased in Jeddah. Laying rest to any concerns raised by Bearman’s F2 performances, Leclerc backed the young driver ahead of his full time debut next season.
“I know Ollie [Bearman] very well,” Leclerc said. “I think he’s such an incredibly talented driver and I think what you need in your first year is always very specific to each driver. It also depends on how much preparation you’ve had before getting there and I think Ollie is very well prepared and he has shown that in Jeddah when he jumped in the car and was straight away very very strong.
“One typical advice that I would give him is to not put himself under too much pressure. He’s still very very young and the speed, he has it. He has shown it several times. He’s not having an easy season as the team is struggling a little bit in Formula 2, quite a lot actually, but he’s incredibly fast and I have no doubt that he will be super fast in Formula 1.”
When asked about his own experience coming through the Ferrari Driver Academy, Leclerc explained that not only the facilities provided by the team but also the support and personnel afforded to the young drivers’ play a crucial role. He also explained that he has worked closely with Bearman and has offered tips in his development.
“I mean it was super super helpful,” Leclerc said of the FDA. “First of all because Ferrari has got such a good simulator now that gets really close to reality and you can do quite a lot of virtual kilometres before getting into the car and once you jump into the car it’s not like it’s a completely new car to drive, you know how to drive it virtually.
“Also the fact that Ferrari has been in Formula 1 for so many years and have seen so many many drivers, they always have the good tips when you start things that you should avoid and try to put you in the best possible conditions in order to perform at your best and Ollie knows as well that I mean I’m here if he needs any tips or whatsoever.
“We always try to speak whenever he’s on the sim and especially at the beginning of the year when he did the race with us in Jeddah we were speaking and I think you always learn also to speak with drivers that are a bit more experienced.”
