Winsdor disappointed by Bearman, pleased with Antonelli
F1 News
Oliver Bearman will be driving in F1 next year with Haas F1. His current F2 teammate, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, seems likely to also be making the step up to the elite level of motorsport with Mercedes. However, neither have blown their F2 competition away. Bearman has one sprint race win this season, Antonelli has one sprint and one feature win. F1 analyst Peter Winsdor gives his verdict on the pair.
Bearman 'worrying'
Bearman put his name into spotlights after his brilliant stand-in performance for Carlos Sainz at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this year, where he finished P7. However, he has struggled in F2 this year. This, for Winsdor, is a worry. "He's got his Formula One deal now and he was doing all the Formula One stuff. And that's obviously affected his driving, but it shouldn't." Windsor said in a live stream on his YouTube channel.
"It shouldn't affect his driving and his focus. It shouldn't at all. And for me, with Ollie Bearman, it kind of all changed when he stalled in the pits at Imola and he had the feature race sewn up." The race referred to here by Windsor is the Imola Feature race where Bearman had started second. The 19-year-old Brit look the lead at the start, but his work was undone after stalling twice in the pits. He ended up finishing a race he should have won in 19th.
Impressed by Antonelli
However, Bearman's teammate has impressed Windsor. "The great Kimi" as Windsor described him. "I think he is looking pretty good. There's no reason to think that he wouldn't be, isn't going to be really good. So I think he's there and Mercedes are probably right to put so much effort and focus on him."
Antonelli has been linked with the seat that will be left vacant by Lewis Hamilton when the seven-time world champion departs the Silver Arrows at the end of the season. The young Italian is backed by Mercedes and Toto Wolff for his F2 campaign, with Wolff very open about having the 17-year-old alongside George Russell.