18-year-old driver ‘ticks all the boxes’ to break into Formula 1 one day

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The race to reach Formula 1 is becoming more and more difficult for young drivers, but there are high hopes for Ferrari academy prospect Oliver Bearman.

Speaking on The Race Podcast, journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm was reviewing the final test of the F1 season.

Abu Dhabi has suddenly become the ultimate scouting location for youngsters trying to step up into Formula 1.

Every team is now required to run an inexperienced driver in each of their cars during one practice session every year.

Half of the cars in Free Practice 1 in Abu Dhabi were filled with academy drivers looking to impress the paddock.

After the final race of the season, teams had one more day of testing available where they could give young drivers a chance to shine.

Ollie Bearman was once again placed in the Haas owing to their connection with Ferrari.

There have been talks in the past that suggest Bearman’s best hopes of breaking into Formula 1 would be via the American team.

Mitchell-Malm believes of all the drivers trying to break into the sport, the 18-year-old looks best placed right now.

The driver market is beginning to become stagnant with no changes taking place over the winter before the 2024 season.

That’s unlikely to be the case in 2025 when Bearman might become the next Brit on the grid.

Bearman will have high hopes for Formula 1 move in the future

Speaking about the drivers who took part in the young driver test and free practice in Abu Dhabi, Mitchell-Malm said: “Jake Dennis, for example, Formula E world champion and long-time Red Bull sim driver.

“Felipe Drugovich is kind of if you’re F2 champion and you’ve not got into F1 after a couple of years out which he’s not going to do next year, how realistic are your chances of getting there?

“And then I think like a Pato O’Ward is probably like my favourite genre of driver to appear at tests like this because they’re someone who will take so passionately about the prospect of getting to F1 and they’re very, very good in their own series.

“But, they’re kind of just here through affiliation and they satisfy the young driver part certainly but they’re not F1 hopefuls.

“So, I think of that list you’ve got to look at the people who are still in F2 or been competing in F2 and I think Ollie Bearman is the one that stands out to me because he kind of ticks all the boxes in terms of still young enough to still be very much in the ascendancy, he’s shown a lot of promise in F2 already and he’s super young, he’s only 18.

“He’s got proper Ferrari backing behind him so someone like that racking up the mileage with Haas, I think means a lot more to me than say a Drugovich who’s parked at Aston Martin as an F2 champion who will probably never get to F1.

“And even a [Theo] Pourchaire, I feel like if he was stepping up to F1 he would do it with the team that’s meant to be backing him already.”

Bearman could benefit from being in the right place at the right time

Every young driver hopes to reach Formula 1 one day but the stars might just align for Ollie Bearman.

His connection with Ferrari shows how highly they think of him and their relationship with Haas could be the key to his promotion from F2.

Mick Schumacher has already shown that being in the Ferrari Driver Academy can lead to a move to Guenther Steiner’s team.

While the German only managed two seasons in F1, Haas’s current options of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen can’t go on forever.

The pair have a combined age of 67 and after finishing bottom of the Constructors’ Championship in 2023, they may need to look at other options going forward.

Steiner has previously said he’s got no appetite to bring a rookie into the team after the struggles he experienced with Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

However, if Bearman can star in F2 in 2024, that might be enough to convince him to change his mind.