{"id":584528,"date":"2026-04-05T21:13:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T21:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/584528\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T21:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T21:13:12","slug":"how-bearman-is-already-securing-his-ferrari-f1-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/584528\/","title":{"rendered":"How Bearman is already securing his Ferrari F1 future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Signing Oliver Bearman<\/a> as a race driver may be one of the most fruitful decisions Ayao Komatsu has made as Haas\u2019 Formula 1 team principal.<\/p>\n

Even with his potential, Bearman wasn\u2019t expected to outscore veteran team-mate Esteban Ocon<\/a> in his maiden season last year. Yet he did, and his 2026 campaign commenced in even stronger fashion.<\/p>\n

Although his Japanese Grand Prix weekend was mediocre \u2013 he was eliminated in Q1 and crashed out of the race, albeit with mitigating circumstances \u2013 Bearman previously was up 3-0 on Ocon in qualifying form and led the midfield in the Melbourne and Shanghai races, claiming seventh in Australia and fifth in China.<\/p>\n

Having scored 17 points, Bearman has vaulted Haas to fourth position in the constructors\u2019 championship, single-handedly outscoring Red Bull.<\/p>\n

How high can the youngster\u2019s performance rise? \u201cI haven’t seen the limit yet,\u201d Komatsu told the Beyond The Grid podcast. \u201cHe’s got huge, huge potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bearman\u2019s results certainly won\u2019t go unnoticed in Maranello. The youngster has been a Ferrari<\/a> junior ever since he emerged as a star performer in junior formulae, claiming titles in the German and Italian Formula 4 championships.<\/p>\n

\"Bearman <\/p>\n

Bearman impressed during his time in F1’s feeder series<\/p>\n

Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd<\/p>\n

Since then, Bearman has kept rewarding the Scuderia\u2019s trust with results. Jumping straight to Formula 3, he took third in the standings notwithstanding his lack of experience. His time in F2 was up and down despite some stellar drives, but he shone on his F1 debut as he stood in for Carlos Sainz<\/a> at Ferrari in the 2024 Saudi Arabian GP. Seventh place meant he became the third-youngest points-scorer in history \u2013 though he has since been demoted to fifth by Kimi Antonelli and Arvid Lindblad<\/a>, by just a few months. And now, he spearheads Ferrari customer Haas\u2019 F1 effort.<\/p>\n

Komatsu is perfectly aware that Bearman likely will leave the American squad sooner or later on his way to Maranello. \u201cThere’s no point worrying about it,\u201d the Japanese said. \u201cI’m a strong believer in controlling what you can control. Ferrari has been investing in him for many, many years. We got him for last year and, of course, this year. So we got to focus on what we can control.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then if we’ve done a great job with Ollie, and then Ollie performed so well that Ferrari really wants to take him the following year, we have to be happy that we’ve done our job, if you like. So you’ve got to focus on your job.\u201d<\/p>\n

But how likely is Ferrari to actually pick Bearman for 2027? It largely depends on Lewis Hamilton<\/a> \u2013 his performance and his happiness in the world championship. The Briton\u2019s 2025 campaign was by far his worst in a glittering F1 career, as he struggled to get to grips with his Ferrari car \u2013 and squad, to some extent.<\/p>\n

The 2022-25 generation of ground-effect cars never was a great match for Hamilton, but the new-for-2026 machinery has seen the seven-time world champion perform at a closer level to Charles Leclerc<\/a> \u2013 he prefers those nimbler, slightly smaller cars \u2013 and he enjoys the new style of racing more than most.<\/p>\n

\"Hamilton <\/p>\n

Hamilton has enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance in 2026 F1 machinery<\/p>\n

Photo by: Sam Bagnall \/ Sutton Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Still, we\u2019re not quite seeing peak, pre-2022 Hamilton. He does shine on occasion, but might never consistently return to that legend-worthy level again, so for Ferrari to think about the future is just natural.<\/p>\n

But the Scuderia is notoriously risk-averse when it comes to its driver line-up \u2013 and this has been true through all eras of management in the past few decades. It did promote Leclerc as early as its second season in F1, but the Monegasque\u2019s early performance in scarlet overalls promptly dismissed whatever little doubt there may have been following his strong maiden F1 season at Sauber.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Felipe Massa<\/a> was more of a gamble in 2006 as he remained rather unproven, although he had grown less error-prone than he used to be. But the Sauber driver had been dominated by Giancarlo Fisichella<\/a> at Sauber in 2004, and his edge over Jacques Villeneuve<\/a> the following year was nuanced by the 1997 world champion\u2019s post-sabbatical performance being somewhat of an unknown itself.<\/p>\n

Regardless, Bearman\u2019s abundance of convincing drives has already made the Massa comparison irrelevant, and he might be more accurately likened to Leclerc.<\/p>\n

\"Whether <\/p>\n

Whether Massa was consistent enough when Ferrari recruited him was an unknown<\/p>\n

Photo by: Sutton Images<\/p>\n

Komatsu was prompt to point out Bearman swiftly swept his rookie mistakes away to achieve \u201cmuch, much better\u201d consistency by the end of the 2025 season, with an \u201camazing rate of improvement\u201d.<\/p>\n

Just over a year ago, the rookie crashed twice in free practice at the Australian Grand Prix, to his team boss\u2019 dismay.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a heavy crash, so he didn’t run on Friday,\u201d Komatsu recounted. \u201cAnd I remember having a conversation with him on Friday night. \u2018Look, Ollie, we need you tomorrow morning because we only got Esteban’s feedback so far. I really need your feedback.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThen what does he do in FP3? He shunted straight away. I was mad, right? But I had to calm myself down, take that emotion out of the way, then have a strong, hard, but constructive conversation with him, right? Which we did.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the amazing thing about that kid \u2013 okay, he’s 20, so maybe I cannot call him \u2018kid\u2019, he’s less than half my age \u2013 he’s really disappointed, he’s gutted, he’s like destroyed. But when we have those conversations, he’s very, very open. He listens, even if he doesn’t agree, at least he listens. That is a quality that I noticed very, very early on. If you are able to listen, digest the information coming from other parties, whether you agree or not, whether you like it or not, that gives you a chance to improve, right?<\/p>\n

\"Bearman's <\/p>\n

Bearman’s driving on his full-time debut was perhaps a little too feisty<\/p>\n

Photo by: Sam Bagnall \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I remember talking to him in Shanghai at the start of the weekend. I said to him, \u2018Look, I don’t care about lap time here this weekend in Shanghai because I know you are quick. But this weekend, if you are, let’s say three tenths of Esteban all weekend, I do not care because I don’t doubt your speed. But you got to do every single lap that is on the run programme. That’s all I care.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he said, \u2018OK.\u2019 He got on with it, did every single lap on the programme. What was the result? Scored points. Right?\u201d<\/p>\n

This followed yet another impressive wild-card performance from 2024, as Bearman stood in for unwell Kevin Magnussen<\/a> at Haas at the last minute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBrazil is a very, very technical track,\u201d Komatsu commented. \u201cI love the track because it’s so challenging for drivers. And he had no simulator session or anything. I told him, like at 6am, \u2018Kevin’s not well, can you jump in the car?\u2019 No preparation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a sprint weekend, so he had one hour to prepare for sprint qualifying.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember watching FP1, run one, lap one. Without any preparation. That lap he did, I’ll never forget. I was like, \u2018How can you do that? You just woke up, been told you’re driving, got in the car, spoke with the engineers, go out of the garage, out-lap, then one push lap. Wow! He’s got that natural ability to be able to do that. But that’s such a knife edge!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bearman's <\/p>\n

Bearman’s free practice performance in the 2024 Brazilian GP mightily impressed Komatsu<\/p>\n

Photo by: Steven Tee \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

These were glimpses of the level Bearman has already reached at just 20 years of age, and the performance he might yet attain in the future: raw speed comforted by what Komatsu describes as \u2018openness, genuineness and humbleness\u2019.<\/p>\n

Whether he does get the golden opportunity of a Ferrari graduation next year, we\u2019ll find out. Even if he doesn\u2019t, he\u2019ll be able to look at fellow countryman George Russell<\/a>, whose patience has been tested in many ways \u2013 as Mercedes<\/a>, just like Ferrari, proved conservative when it came to choosing Hamilton\u2019s team-mate.<\/p>\n

Russell patiently led Williams<\/a> to as many points finishes as he could, bore the brunt of Mercedes losing its title-contending status precisely when he joined the Brackley-based outfit, but he now has winning machinery in his hands.<\/p>\n

But maybe Bearman\u2019s eyes will be focused on his former F2 team-mate turned F1 championship leader, Antonelli, and how could anyone blame him? The main thing is he must not lose sight of the fact that time is on his side \u2013 it really is.<\/p>\n

\"Will <\/p>\n

Will Bearman join Leclerc at Ferrari anytime soon?<\/p>\n

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

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– The Autosport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Signing Oliver Bearman as a race driver may be one of the most fruitful decisions Ayao Komatsu has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,930,576,577,3017,223381,932,3030,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-584528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-ferrari","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-formula1","14":"tag-haas-f1-team","15":"tag-how-bearman-is-already-securing-his-ferrari-f1-future","16":"tag-lewis-hamilton","17":"tag-oliver-bearman","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}