{"id":207477,"date":"2025-10-12T09:05:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T09:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/207477\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T09:05:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T09:05:07","slug":"f1-rookie-tipped-for-big-seat-in-maybe-two-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/207477\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 rookie tipped for ‘big seat’ in ‘maybe two years’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oliver Bearman will race for a team higher up the order than Haas in \u201cmaybe two years\u201d with Sam Bird tipping the Ferrari junior to land a \u201cbig seat\u201d, although the Scuderia wasn\u2019t specifically mentioned.<\/p>\n

Bearman made a surprise appearance in Formula 1 last season when, contesting the Formula 2 season with Prema, he was called up by Ferrari to replace Carlos Sainz at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix when the Spaniard underwent an appendectomy.<\/p>\n

Oliver Bearman tipped for \u2018big seat\u2019 in F1<\/p>\n

Bearman not only scored points for Ferrari, but he went on to become the first driver in F1 history to score points for two different teams in his first two races when he followed up that P7 with a tenth-placed finish for Haas at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

That was one of two races he competed in with his current team, replacing Kevin Magnussen when he was handed an automatic one-race ban after causing a collision at the previous race that put him over the limit of twelve penalty points within twelve months. He also replaced the Dane in Saudi Arabia when Magnussen fell ill, but Bearman wasn\u2019t able to add to his points with a P12 finish.<\/p>\n

Confirmed by Haas for the F1 2025 championship, the Briton has struggled in his debut campaign as Formula 1 World Championship points have been interspersed with penalty points, putting the driver on the cusp of the same ban<\/a> that opened the door for his Haas debut.<\/p>\n

But shrugging off that worry, Bearman raced his way to ninth place at the Singapore Grand Prix, adding a further two points to his tally as Haas try to chase down Sauber for eighth place in the Constructors\u2019 standings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Former Mercedes test driver Bird believes Bearman, despite a few notable mistakes, has shown enough to warrant a move up the grid in the coming years.<\/p>\n

More on the F1 driver market:<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0F1 2026 driver line-up: Who is already confirmed for the 2026 grid?<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0Russell to stay? Predicting the next move for every out-of-contract F1 driver<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI give it a year, maybe two years, and he\u2019ll be in a big seat, fighting for wins, fighting for podiums,\u201d Bird told the BBC Chequered Flag podcast of Bearman.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s too good to be\u2026 he\u2019s in my opinion, been much quicker than [Esteban] Ocon a lot of the time, especially in qualifying. <\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, maybe sometimes some mistakes have crept in, but he\u2019s proving that he\u2019s good enough to race at the front of this Formula One grid. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe came in with such high expectations after his late Grand Prix debut in Saudi Arabia, where Carlos Sainz could no longer race due to appendicitis, and I think that this year has been, he\u2019s been really, really good to watch. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at all the rookies, I think Hajar has been great, I think Bearman has been great, and those two have been the standout rookies for me. I know Antonelli has improved recently, but I wouldn\u2019t say he stood out. <\/p>\n

\u201cBearman and Hadjar, Bortoleto at times as well, those three have stood out.\u201d<\/p>\n

A junior driver with Ferrari, Bearman has been linked to Lewis Hamilton\u2019s race seat when the Briton decides to hang up his helmet while Charles Leclerc\u2019s could also be up for grabs in 2027 according to his manager Nicholas Todt.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the dream for Bearman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was already highly motivated, and now that I\u2019ve had a taste, I\u2019m even more driven,\u201d he said earlier this year about a future with Ferrari. \u201ct It\u2019s what gets me out of bed in the morning and motivates me in life. <\/p>\n

\u201cI hope one day to achieve it. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor now, my career is with Haas, and I\u2019m really enjoying it. They are a great team, and I think we can achieve big things together, with the hope of earning a future in Formula 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bearman, though, will first need to prove to Ferrari that he\u2019s eradicated his rookie errors which included a red flag infringement when he crashed in the pit lane under reds at the British Grand Prix while two collision and an overtake under reds have also seen him hit with penalty points.<\/p>\n

Read next: Max Verstappen \u2018by far the number one\u2019 F1 driver as former Ferrari chief weighs in<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oliver Bearman will race for a team higher up the order than Haas in \u201cmaybe two years\u201d with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,818,44,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-207477","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-home-page","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}