F1 News
Another hint Bearman has secured an F1 deal? 'Don't need to prove myself'
Oliver Bearman returns to Formula One this weekend in Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix, as he replaces Haas' Nico Hulkenberg for the first free practice session on Friday. The Ferrari and Hass reserve driver has been heavily linked to joining the American team for 2025. Although he admits there is still room for improvement, he no longer feels like he needs to prove himself to secure a seat for next season.
Speaking to GPblog and others in the paddock, Bearman justified why he no longer needs to prove himself to others: "These practice sessions are also practice for me for the future. Hopefully I'll get the chance to do a lot more FP1s if you catch my drift. I don't feel like I need to prove myself, but that's really been the case since the beginning," he said.
"Since Mexico last year my first FP1. It was made clear to me that I didn't need to prove myself. If I just drove within what I'm capable of, that's already proving. I don't feel like I'm over pushing or overdoing it I'm just enjoying it. I'm enjoying the session and using it to build up my knowledge base basically."
'You can't afford to have a day off'
Earlier this season, the F2 driver replaced Carlos Sainz in Saudi Arabia after he fell ill with appendicitis. In the race, Bearman scored six points, and finished ahead of Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton. Despite a strong F1 race debut, the Brit states there is still room for improvement: "My technical knowledge is something I want to improve for F1. Because the complexity of the car is much higher than F2. And that's something that can really help the engineers and start to build a relationship with them on that side of things. So I want to work on that as well as physically because F1 is a big step in terms of physicality."
Nevertheless, Bearman is focused on working hard to secure himself an F1 seat for 2025. Although he did not confirm whether anything has been signed, he did tell GPblog and others that he has been in discussions with teams. Now, he is focused on getting the most out of FP1 this weekend so he feels prepared for the move when the time comes: "Even these FP1 sessions you feel the physicality of the F1 car. I want to be ready. I don't want that to be limiting me. The fact is that in F1 you can't afford to not be on point. Especially at the moment how close everyone is. You can't afford to have a day off. You can't afford to have a bad day at the office. So I'm really trying to work on my mental game. Because at this level everyone is more or less the same. You know there's not people who stand out massively in terms of talent. Everyone is amazing. Everyone is massively talented at this level. The difference is really in the mental game," he concluded.