Formula 1 team director admits failed attempt to sign Oliver Bearman from Ferrari

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A director at a rival Formula 1 team has revealed that they failed to take Oliver Bearman from Ferrari after holding initial talks.

Bearman is hot property right now after starring on his emergency debut at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

He’ll harbour aspirations of driving for the Scuderia full-time one day, but it’s emerged via oe24 that another front-runner tried to acquire him.

Ferrari signed Bearman to their driver academy at the end of 2021, and he raced in Formula 3 the following season.

The Englishman would finish third in the championship with one victory and eight podiums before graduating to F2.

With four more wins under his belt, he placed sixth in the standings, and he’ll look to improve on that this year.

Bearman is currently propping up the order but he had been due to start on pole in the Saudi Arabia Feature Race before Ferrari called him up to replace the unwell Carlos Sainz.

He’s due to return to F2 duties this weekend, with Sainz expected to be back in the Ferrari.

The 18-year-old is also carrying out a reserve role for the Haas team and he’ll compete in six FP1 sessions for them before the year is out.

Helmut Marko reveals Oliver Bearman talks

Red Bull’s Helmut Marko has now lifted the lid on an ‘informative conversation’ about potentially signing Bearman.

Unfortunately for the world champions, the Briton was already contracted to Ferrari at the time and they couldn’t prise him away.

Marko says the idea of an effective loan move to sister team RB was unconscionable.

The 80-year-old said: “We actually had an informative conversation with him, but he was already at the Ferrari Academy.

“It is unimaginable that we would train him for Ferrari.”

Who are Red Bull’s junior drivers?

Mercedes and Ferrari have two next-generation talents battling it out at the Prema team in F2.

Bearman is up against 17-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli, whom some insiders have called the next Max Verstappen.

There’s an expectation that the former could make a full-time F1 bow with Haas next year, while Antonelli may start out at Williams.

But do Red Bull have any young talent of a similar calibre coming through?

The standout at the moment is Liam Lawson, who deputised for an injured Daniel Ricciardo at five events last year.

Lawson impressed by scoring points for the team, and while he missed out on a 2024 seat, Christian Horner has assured him that his time will come.

Elsewhere, 22-year-old Ayumu Iwasa delivered a strong showing in F2, earning a top-five spot in each of his two seasons, and is now racing in Super Formula.

In addition, Pepe Marti has made a strong start to his maiden F2 campaign with two podiums in his first four races.