Bearman has a great opportunity in Baku
The Haas Formula 1 team has finally confirmed that Oliver Bearman will race in the Azerbaijan GP as replacement for Kevin Magnussen, who has been banned for a race after accumulating 12 penalty points.
The choice of Bearman was never really in doubt given that he has a race seat with the team next year, but as in Jeddah – when he stepped into Ferrari – he will have to give up his Prema F2 seat.
Last year he took F2 pole in Baku and won both the sprint and the feature race.
“It’s definitely more of a challenge stepping in to race as a reserve driver, with limited prep-time and so on,” said Bearman. “But I’m in the fortunate position of having done it earlier in the year with Scuderia Ferrari, so I can at least call on that experience.
“I’ve also had four FP1 sessions with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team in the VF-24 already this season, so undoubtedly that will also prove to be valuable in tackling the full race weekend in Baku. The team is in good form at the moment and I’ll do my best to be prepared with the time we have available. The aim is to get out there and have a solid weekend in Azerbaijan.”
Team boss Ayao Komatsu added: “I’m excited that Ollie will be driving the VF-24 alongside Nico in Baku. He’s already shown great promise in his FP1 outings and post-season test, and he performed very well when he drove for Scuderia Ferrari in Saudi Arabia, picking up points in the process.
“This is another excellent opportunity for both Ollie and the team to work together, this time throughout an entire race weekend, and he couldn’t ask for better teammate than Nico to provide him with a reference.”
Adam Cooper F1 