Ferrari Driver Academy member driver Oliver Bearman emphasizes that there have been “no specific objectives set by anyone” as he prepares to make his debut in Formula 1 during the first free practice session for the Mexico City Grand Prix, which is scheduled to take place later today.
Earlier this month, it was officially announced that Bearman would be taking the wheel for the Haas team in the first practice sessions in both Mexico and Abu Dhabi at the end of November.
Oliver Bearman, the British driver, is currently competing in his debut season in the Formula 2 category, where he has clinched four victories and holds a solid sixth place overall with one round of races still to go. When questioned about when he was informed of his upcoming F1 debut during a grand prix weekend, the talented young driver responded, “I was informed after winning the feature race in Monza. Marco Matassa, my boss and the head of the Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA), asked me to meet him in his office after the podium celebrations, and that’s when he broke the news.” – he explained.
Before his Friday outing in Mexico with the Haas VF-23, Oliver Bearman had a prior experience with Ferrari’s SF-21, the 2021 Formula 1 single-seater, when he tested it at the Fiorano test track in Maranello.
The Ferrari junior confirmed that the move from Formula 2 cars to F1 was clearly “pretty big”, pointing out that the key performance gain came “mostly in [the] cornering ability of the car. Of course, it was a 2021 car so the ride’s a bit better and I’d say a bit easier to drive,” he continued. “But I was quite surprised at the G-force you can pull in braking and cornering. Fiorano is only a short track but it was enough to find the potential of a Formula 1 car.” – the Ferrari Driver Academy member continued.
As per the existing regulations, each Formula 1 team is required to provide two practice sessions each season to a driver with fewer than two Grand Prix starts. Thanks to its strong technical partnership with Ferrari, Haas has had the opportunity to field several of the Ferrari Driver Academy’s talents in the past, including Charles Leclerc and Mick Schumacher.
“I’m sure it helps a little bit, obviously they have a good relationship with Ferrari… Of course, they’ve had rookie drivers before and they know about that I will need a little bit more info and a little bit of catching up compared to the real drivers. But they’re good with that and they’ve worked with a lot of rookies so it’s seamless.” – he explained.
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Oliver Bearman anticipates that the most demanding part of his first appearance will involve handling the considerable track changes that typically occur at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez: “The switches is something at least I get to with the sim and with the Fiorano test, it’s quite a similar set-up to what Ferrari has so that’s nice. My other issue is cars on track which could complicate things a bit, but for me I think the most complicated bit is going to be the track evolution. It starts very dusty here and with the altitude as well the grip level is low, so I think just getting to grips with that and understanding what the car needs will be the main difficulty. Of course like Guenther [Steiner, Haas Team Principal] said there’s no positives, nothing to win on a Friday – it’s a mandatory session and I just need to bring the car back.” – the Ferrari junior continued.
In addition to the team of engineers he’ll collaborate with on Friday, the 18-year-old driver has shared that Kevin Magnussen, Haas’ driver, has played a role in his preparation: “Yeah especially Kevin’s been quite useful, just giving a bit of knowledge about little stuff that probably to him doesn’t seem like anything but for someone coming into the car for the first time is very useful. And yeah any questions they’ve always been there to answer, but also the engineers, so that’s been nice and at least I can go to sleep tonight without any questions in the back of my head.”
At the same time, the Ferrari junior confirmed that the Maranello team has not set any specific goals for his practice run in Mexico: “No targets, no targets from anyone – even from myself. I think it would be silly to set any expectations, my first target is just to enjoy it. I’ve had it drummed into me a lot now, there’s nothing to win from here, just do a solid job, build up step-by-step and enjoy it as well. So that’s my target.” – Oliver Bearman concluded.
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