The Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy’s Oliver Bearman took his second win of the season at the track where he had already won last year. After a great start in the Feature Race, the Safety Car appeared at just the wrong time for Ollie.
This was Oliver Bearman’s best weekend of the season so far. The 19 year old Englishman won the Sprint Race after a brilliant charge through the field and it looked as though he would do it again in the Feature Race, but he eventually finished seventh as the Safety Car ruined his strategy.
Sprint Race. Bearman had a five place grid penalty for an infringement at the previous round in Spa-Francorchamps, which dropped him from third to eighth on the grid. He got a great start, to immediately move up to fifth and was on a charge after that which took him into the lead. In the final third of the race, second placed Victor Martins tried to get within DRS range of Bearman, but the Englishman responded immediately to extend the gap all the way to the chequered flag. “It was a great race, finally another win!” commented Ollie. “I’m very happy because I think it was well deserved as we have been working flat out for a long time and I think finally we are seeing the results of that. Today, I felt very comfortable with the car and once I was in the lead, it turned into pretty much a 30 minute qualifying duel between me and Victor! After my home race at Silverstone, Monza is the track where I enjoy winning and celebrating the most and today I really had a lot of fun.”
Feature Race. Another good start from Bearman from eighth on the grid saw him move all the way up to second in just one lap. He pitted for his tyre stop on lap 6, as did all the leading drivers, having started on the Supersoft. The Safety Car then played a key part in the result, coming out on lap 10, which meant those who had started on Softs could change tyres losing much less time than the earlier stoppers. That lost Bearman the chance of another podium which was easily in his grasp, and he had to settle for seventh place. “It was a tough race,” he said, clearly disappointed. “The early stages were promising, then at the restart after the Safety Car, I was stuck in a train of cars all with DRS. I’d say we were a bit unlucky, because the car was going really well and I think without the Safety Car, I could have fought for the win. But overall, we can still be happy with how the weekend went.”