Oliver Bearman grills driver who broke his karting record as rematch planned

After setting a new lap record at a Swedish karting track during a post-Silverstone break, Oliver Bearman was surprised to see local driver Elton Zevenwacht reclaim it

Oliver Bearman has met Elton Zevenwacht, who just reclaimed the lap record at a small Swedish karting track after the Haas Formula 1 driver spent a few days setting the fastest time.

After his first home grand prix at Silverstone, Bearman enjoyed a short break in Sweden before heading to the Spa-Francorchamps circuit for the Belgian Grand Prix. During his time away in the small town of Varberg, he stumbled upon a small karting track and quickly set himself the goal of setting the new lap record - which he did.

But after seeing his record broken by the F1 driver, 23-year-old Zevenwacht returned to the track to reclaim his title. Now, the Haas F1 team has shared the moment that the two drivers met ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

"I wasn't pleased," Bearman said to his team when asked how he felt when he heard that Zevenwacht had set the record again. "I wasn't pleased at all."

The Briton cheekily grilled Zevenwacht on what time of day he set the record, as well as his height and weight, letting his competitive side shine through. "I'm going to go back next year at 7[pm]," Bearman added.

"We should go together next time, slipstream each other. We can do the record by like 5 tenths," he continued, suggesting if the 23-year-old beats him again next year then he can go to the Belgian Grand Prix.

Bearman previously gave details on the "serious quest" of setting the lap record at the track.

"I was on vacation in Sweden and there was a kart track very close to where I was staying that week," Bearman explained.

"It was a coincidence. Of course, I was excited to go to Sweden for a while. My girlfriend's family said: 'Look, you have to beat the lap record’. And I was like, yeah, come on, it will be easy. Then on the first day I was three or four tenths off.

“The track was really cool. It was a short lap, only 29 seconds, so you had to be super precise and I was trying every trick in the book to do it because the guy was quick."

He added: "It was a serious, serious quest. On the final day we put new tyres and did it properly, dropping the pressures after every run.

"I was at it for almost two hours. You had to really put the perfect lap together and move some of the walls a little bit and finally, I managed to beat the lap time by just like half a tenth. I did like 15 laps where I was 0.03 or 0.04 away from it. And when you're that close, you can't quit until you win!"