Why it isn't only speed that enthuses Haas about Bearman

While the Formula 1 world has been whipping itself into a froth over the if-when-where of Mercedes protege Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s F1 debut, one of Ferrari’s up-and-coming talents has been there, done that, and picked his race number. Oliver Bearman has already proved himself capable of racing an F1 car at one of the most challenging tracks on the calendar – and Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu reckons it’s actually his new driver who has the potential to excite the establishment.


Bearman, pronounced as it’s written (somewhere along the line it had been incorrectly distorted to Beer-man), will drive for Haas from next season, effectively on loan from Ferrari, where he is part of the driver academy.  The 19-year-old was born in London and grew up living in Chelmsford, Essex with his parents before leaving the King Edward VI Grammar School and moving to Modena aged
just 16 to join Ferrari’s young driver programme. It’s that move perhaps that accounts for his accent, which has an Italian twang to it, most unfitting for an Essex boy.