F1 News
Why Bearman is optimistic about Haas drive in Baku: 'That'll be valuable'
- Nicole Mulder
Oliver Bearman is delighted to be given the chance to race on behalf of Haas at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku. There, the young Brit will act as a replacement for the banned Kevin Magnussen.
Bearman finds himself in a 'fortunate position'
"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," Bearman revealed in a statement.
He continued: "I’ve also had four FP1 sessions with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team in the VF-24 already this season, so undoubtedly that will also prove to 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."
Why did Haas pick Bearman?
Team boss Ayao Komatsu has full confidence in Bearman and explained why he opted to use Bearman. "I’m excited that Ollie will be driving the VF-24 alongside Nico in Baku. 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."
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton
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