Oliver Bearman will replace Kevin Magnussen at Haas for the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.
Magnussen is suspended for the Eastern Europe trip due to having collected 12 penalty points in the last 12 months, which meant that Haas had a spare seat.
Ferrari however were without Antonio Giovinazzi and Robert Shwartzman due to World Endurance action in Fuji, Japan, which meant that Bearman was their sole reserve option if Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz couldn’t race.
Haas have since agreed a loan deal with Ferrari for Bearman to step into Magnussen’s car for his first full F1 race weekend, having previously replaced Sainz at Ferrari in Saudi Arabia from FP3 onwards earlier this season.
On that occasion, Bearman managed to finish seventh on his F1 debut after he narrowly missed out on Q3 in Qualifying.
“It’s definitely more of a challenge stepping in to race as a reserve driver, with limited prep-time and so on, but I’m in the fortunate position of having done it earlier in the year with Scuderia Ferrari, so I can at least call on that experience,” commented Bearman.
The 19 year-old also is familiar with Haas after having done four FP1 sessions with the team this season, which he believes will “… be valuable in tackling the full race weekend in Baku.
“The team is in good form at the moment and I’ll do my best to be prepared with the time we have available. The aim is to get out there and have a solid weekend in Azerbaijan.”
Haas Team Principal, Ayao Komatsu is “excited” to see what Bearman can deliver ahead of his full-time move to the team next season.
“He’s already shown great promise in his FP1 outings and post-season test, and he performed very well when he drove for Scuderia Ferrari in Saudi Arabia, picking up points in the process.
“This is another excellent opportunity for both Ollie and the team to work together, this time throughout an entire race weekend, and he couldn’t ask for better teammate than Nico to provide him with a reference.”
Bearman is no stranger to Baku after he dominated F2’s visit last season with a double-race victory, on top of topping Practice and Qualifying.
Leave a Reply