Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy student Oliver Bearman will race fulltime for the Haas F1 Team in 2025, having signed a multi-year contract with the American team. The 19 year old Englishman has been a member of the Maranello Academy since the end of 2021 and this year he is racing with the Prema Racing team in Formula 2 as well as being reserve driver for Scuderia Ferrari HP. He has already been called upon to fulfil that role, standing in for Carlos Sainz in this year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, when the Spaniard was unwell. Not long after taking the Formula 2 pole in Jeddah, he went on to qualify 11th for the Grand Prix in which he finished an impressive seventh, joining an elite club of rookies who have scored points on their Formula 1 debut. More recently, Oliver won last weekend’s Formula 2 Sprint Race in Austria.
Bearman is no stranger to the Haas F1 team, having driven two FP1 sessions for them last year, as well as joining them for the end of season Abu Dhabi test. He is once again behind the wheel of the Haas VF24 in FP1 this Friday at Silverstone and will do the same in Hungary, Mexico and Abu Dhabi, while continuing as reserve driver for the Scuderia and competing in the 2024 FIA Formula 2 series.
Oliver thus adds his name to those who have made their way through the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy to reach the level of fulltime Formula 1 driver: Felipe Massa, Jules Bianchi, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, Mick Schumacher and current Scuderia Ferrari HP driver, Charles Leclerc.
“It’s hard to put into words just how much this means to me,” commented Bearman. “To Fred, Marco, Jock, Alessandro and everyone at the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy, quite simply, I wouldn’t be here without you. Thank you for preparing me since F4 for this incredible opportunity and know I will give it everything I have.”