(Motorsport-Total.com) – Haas driver Oliver Bearman is among the most promising talents in Formula 1: The 20-year-old Briton clearly outshone his established teammate Esteban Ocon last year and has already been able to draw attention to himself with several strong performances this season.
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The weekend in Japan was mixed, but a seventh place in Australia and a fifth place in China clearly showed the Haas driver’s potential. In the drivers’ championship, Bearman is currently in seventh place despite his accident in Japan, directly behind the six drivers of the three top teams.
What results are still possible this season, maybe even the first podium? “I haven’t seen the limit yet,” says Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu in the Formula 1 podcast Beyond The Grid. “He has huge, huge potential.”
There is no doubt about it: Bearman, who is part of the Ferrari junior program, already impressed in the junior series and won both the German and Italian Formula 4 championships. Since then, the Briton has continuously rewarded the Scuderia’s trust with strong results.
Having moved directly up to Formula 3, he finished third overall despite a lack of experience. His time in Formula 2 was mixed, albeit peppered with some strong individual performances. Bearman shone in his Formula 1 debut when he stepped in for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Haas Team Principal: “No point in worrying”
Seventh place made the Ferrari junior the third-youngest points scorer in Formula 1 history at the time, although he has since fallen to fifth place because of Mercedes youngster Kimi Antonelli and Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad.
His goal for the future remains clear: Bearman is aiming for a permanent seat at Ferrari. Haas team principal Komatsu is even already aware that his talent will sooner or later leave the American team to move to Maranello.
“There’s no point in worrying about it,” says the Japanese. “I firmly believe in only controlling what you can control. Ferrari has been investing in him for many years. We got him for last year and of course for this year as well.”
“So we have to focus on what we can control. And if we’ve done a great job with Ollie and Ollie performs so well that Ferrari really wants him the following year, we have to be happy that we’ve done our job, if you will. So you have to focus on your job.”
Does Oliver Bearman have any chance at Ferrari at all?
But how realistic is it that Bearman will get a Ferrari seat as early as the 2027 season? That depends heavily on Lewis Hamilton, especially on his performance and personal satisfaction. Because the 2025 season was the weakest of Hamilton’s entire Formula 1 career.
Hamilton struggled with his Ferrari and sometimes with the team. The ground-effect cars of the 2022 to 2025 generation never suited him perfectly, but in this year’s cars, the seven-time world champion is suddenly driving at a level similar to that of Charles Leclerc.
He prefers more agile, compact cars and enjoys the new racing style more than most other drivers. Nevertheless, the “old” Hamilton from his championship years is not completely back. There have been brilliant moments now, but consistent top form is questionable. Therefore, it is understandable that Ferrari is thinking about the future.
But the Scuderia is known for its cautious driver choice. Although Leclerc was promoted early, his performances in the red car quickly dispelled all doubts after his strong debut season at Sauber. Felipe Massa was perhaps a greater risk in 2006 because he was still relatively inexperienced, although he made fewer mistakes than expected.
But Bearman’s multitude of convincing performances now makes comparisons with Massa superfluous; he is more comparable to Leclerc. Komatsu emphasized that Bearman quickly stopped his beginner mistakes and showed significantly consistent performances by the end of 2025, with impressive development.
Bearman experiences a difficult Haas debut in 2025
A little over a year ago, Bearman crashed twice during free practice in Australia, much to the annoyance of the Haas team principal. “He had a serious accident and therefore couldn’t drive on Friday,” Komatsu recalls of the past season.
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“I remember a conversation with him on Friday evening: ‘Listen, Ollie, we need you tomorrow morning because we only have Esteban’s feedback so far. I absolutely need yours,'” Komatsu says. “And what does he do then in the third free practice? He crashes immediately.”
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“I was angry,” the Japanese admits now in retrospect, “but I had to calm down, put the emotion aside and then have a strong, hard, but constructive conversation with him. That’s exactly what we did.”
“The amazing thing about the boy – okay, he’s 20 years old, so maybe I can’t call him a ‘boy’ anymore, but he’s not even half my age – is that he’s really disappointed and devastated. But when we talk, he’s very open.”
Team principal praises: Bearman learns from his mistakes
“He listens, even if he doesn’t agree, he at least listens,” says Komatsu. “I noticed this quality very early on. If you can listen and process other people’s information, whether you agree or not, whether you like it or not, then you have the chance to improve, right?”
The Haas team principal remembers the conversation with Bearman in Shanghai at the start of the weekend last year. “I said to him: ‘Listen, I don’t care about the lap time here in Shanghai this weekend because I know you’re fast,'” Komatsu reveals.
“‘But if you’re, say, three tenths behind Esteban this weekend, I don’t care because I don’t doubt your speed. But you have to complete every single lap that’s on the program. That’s all I’m looking at.'”
“And he said: ‘Okay.’ He went out and drove every single lap of the program,” Komatsu recalls of China 2024: “What was the result? Scored points. Right?” Bearman already impressed at the 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix when he stepped in for the ill Kevin Magnussen.
“Amazing!”: How Bearman impressed in Brazil 2024
“Brazil is a very, very technical track,” Komatsu emphasizes. “I love the track because it’s so demanding for the drivers. And he didn’t have a simulator session or anything like that. I told him at 6 a.m.: ‘Kevin isn’t fit, can you jump in the car?’ No preparation.”
It was a sprint weekend, so the Haas driver only had one hour to prepare for sprint qualifying. “I remember the first free practice, the first lap. Without any preparation. I will never forget that lap,” says the team principal.
“I just thought: ‘How is that possible? You just woke up, found out you’re driving, got in the car, talked to the engineers, drove out of the pits, did an out-lap and then a fast lap. Amazing! He has this natural talent for it. But it’s really a fine line!'”
These were first impressions of the level Bearman has already reached at just 20 years old, and of the performance he could still achieve in the future: pure speed, paired with what Komatsu describes as “openness, authenticity and humility.”
Maybe not in 2027, but the time will come …
Whether he gets the big chance for a promotion at Ferrari next year remains to be seen. But even if not, he can look at his compatriot George Russell, whose patience has often been put to the test – because Mercedes, just like Ferrari, proved to be conservative in choosing Hamilton’s teammates.
Russell patiently led Williams to as many points finishes as possible and felt the loss of Mercedes’ title chances exactly at the time he moved to the Brackley-based team. But now, five years later, he has a car capable of winning in his hands.
Perhaps Bearman’s gaze is fixed on his former Formula 2 teammate and current championship leader Kimi Antonelli; no one could blame him for that. But the main thing is that he doesn’t forget that time is on his side – and it really is.
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