Oliver Bearman will make his second race appearance in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix next weekend, filling in for the banned Kevin Magnussen at Haas.
Magnussen was hit with a one-race ban after an incident during the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday took him to 12 penalty points on his super licence, forcing him to sit out the Baku race weekend.
Haas has now confirmed that Bearman, 19, will take Magnussen’s seat. It will be the British driver’s second F1 start after his last-minute Ferrari debut at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in March, when he starred to finish P7.
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Britain’s next big F1 driver? Ollie Bearman joins the gridiron
“It’s definitely more of a challenge going in to compete as a reserve driver, with limited preparation time and so on, but I’m in the fortunate position of doing it earlier in the year with Ferrari, so I can at least call on that experience,” Bearman said in a statement. .
“I’ve also had four FP1 sessions with Haas in the VF-24 already this season, so no doubt that will also prove valuable in tackling the full race weekend in Baku. The team is in good shape at the moment and I will do my best to be ready with the time we have. The goal is to go out and have a solid weekend in Azerbaijan.”
Bearman has already been announced in a Haas racing seat for 2025, and has made four practice appearances for the team so far this season. He will form part of an all-new Haas line-up next year alongside Esteban Ocon.
Ollie to drive at the #AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿
Ollie will step into the VF-24 alongside Nico for the weekend, following Kevin’s one-race suspension in Baku. #HaasF1 #F1 pic.twitter.com/6JrxLqMBPP
– MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) 6 September 2024
The call-up to racing seat for Baku will give Bearman an early chance to acclimate to life in a racing seat with the team, as well as provide a full weekend of preparation. In Jeddah, Bearman only got a single practice session before jumping into the Ferrari car when Carlos Sainz was forced to retire and undergo surgery for appendicitis.
Magnussen’s ban was confirmed by the FIA on Sunday after the race at Monza, where his collision with Pierre Gasly resulted in a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points. The Dane, 31, finished the race 10th despite the penalty, securing Haas one championship point.
It marked the first time in 12 years that a driver had been banned from racing in F1, the most recent instance coming in 2012 when Romain Grosjean was told to rule out the Italian Grand Prix for causing a multi-car first-corner crash at Spa. .
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Haas was unable to confirm at the time that Bearman would get the nod to replace Magnussen, as it had to get the green light from its parent team, Ferrari. Bearman has served as the dual reserve driver for Ferrari and Haas this season alongside his racing duties in Formula 2.
Ferrari also have ex-F1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi and 2021 F2 runner-up Robert Shwartzman on their books as reserves, but both will be in Japan next weekend for the World Endurance Championship sports car race at Fuji.
Magnussen, who will leave Haas at the end of the season, will return to his seat for the next race in Singapore and have his penalty points total reset to zero.
(Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
