Ollie Bearman... a breath of fresh air
from the F1 paddock in Bahrain
Every now again someone bursts on to the world stage. Last year at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix it was Ollie Bearman. The then 18 year old British driver was drafted in last minute from F2, the feeder series to Formula One, to cover for the ailing Carlos Sainz at Ferrari. He had done very little mileage in an F1 car but went on to score points on his debut. 12 months ago he was a excitable, wide eyed kid who couldn’t believe his luck. One year on he’s exactly the same - only now he is a full time F1 driver for Haas.
His story is unusual to say the least. Last season he ended up covering not just for Sainz but also for Kevin Magnussen at Haas, becoming the first driver to score points for two teams in one season. It was impressive doing it on his debut in a Ferrari. To score points in the Haas was brilliant.
Now though, things are different. Gone is the idea that there is ‘nothing to lose’. He needs to perform 24 weekends a year and that brings pressure. Yesterday, I sat down with him in the paddock in Bahrain for the Channel 4 F1 coverage. He talked about the intensity of the start of the season. Even an experienced driver would say it has been a lot. Australia was followed by two races in China. There was a week off, which was mostly spent in the UK on the sim to set up the car for the triple header; Japan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. This week between finishing 10th in Suzuka and arriving here in Bahrain, he managed to get ‘home’ to Monaco for a couple of days. He went to the Monte-Carlo Masters tennis where he met Matteo Berrettini after his win against Alexander Zverev. The Italian is an F1 fan and when he asked the young driver if he liked tennis, the easy answer would have been yes. Bearman replied that he is a fan of padel. Berrettini went off feigning heartbreak.
That is the great thing about Ollie Bearman. He is by his own admission “not a great liar” so when it comes to interviews and chatting off camera, he is brilliantly honest. He has the enthusiasm and excitement of a fan who has won a prize to get into the paddock. If you didn’t realise what a good driver he is and has the potential to be, you could think he lacks seriousness. Trust me, he doesn’t!
He has scored points in the last two grand prix. At Suzuka, a track that favours the brave and experienced, he outperformed his team mate Esteban Ocon who has been in the sport since 2016 (albeit with one season on the sidelines). Either way it is 159 starts v 6 in F1 machinery.
Bahrain is a circuit that all the drivers know. F1 tests here before the season starts. I am not sure why this still feels like a new-ish race but it is not. The first race at this track was in 2004 and won by Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari.
It has been run on four different configurations of the circuit, in daylight hours and now at night. Being in Bahrain, the Sakhir circuit is obviously surrounded by desert. The day races were dull but since they installed 495 lighting poles and turned into a night race, it has thrown up some great GP. Lights out is at sunset and over the 80 or so minutes, the temperature drops quickly which creates unpredictability with tyres. There are three DRS zones to enable overtaking, which a purist will say is manufactured and not real, but it does create opportunities and therefore excitement.
Speaking of manufactured, so the sand doesn’t blow across the track and cause chaos, the surrounding desert is sprayed with a sticky adhesive substance to minimise the amount that drifts to the circuit! It’s come a long way from being the site of a camel farm!