Whilst the announcement of outgoing Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz to Williams was delayed last weekend, Ferrari have an declaration of their own on the near horizon. Academy driver Oliver Bearman is set to be revealed as a permanent member of the Formula One grid for next season following his impressive debut earlier this year.
The British driver has been successful throughout his junior career and at just sixteen he won both theGerman and Italian Formula 4 championships claiming the top step of the podium 17 times along the way. As a result Ferrari picked him up for their academy and Bearman moved into Formula 3 in 2022.
Racing for Prema once again Bearman impressed and the following year was promoted within the team to their Formula 2 roster where he went on to win 4 races in his rookie year, though Prema and Bearman are struggling more this year.
Bearman impresses on F1 debut
Ferrari were impressed enough with Oli’s progress that they handed him the role for this season as number one reserve driver for both Ferrari and Haas F1. Whilst F1 team’s must surrender each of their cars for at least one free practice session to a junior driver, Bearman is slated to run in six FP1 sessions for the Haas F1 outfit.
Tipped pre-season to be the next F1 debutant, Bearman could not have believed this would happen so quickly when Carlos Sainz became ill during round two of the year in Jeddah. The Spaniard fell ill overnight and was unfit to take part in FP3. In stepped Bearman who later qualified his Ferrari in P11, but with a best time just under two tenths behind the seven times champion, Lewis Hamilton.
Bearman appeared fearless in the race and came home ahead of drivers with years more experience in P7, while Norris and Hamilton were each a place behind the young Brit respectively.
Yet despite his F1 exploits this season, not all is well for Bearman back in F2-land. Of course Bearman missed 2 F2 races in Jeddah but his form in the other ten held so far has been less than average. He’s scored just three times this season coming home P9 in the feature race in Australia then P5 next time out in the Imola Sprint. Bearman’s best result was a fourth place in Monaco’s feature race where he missed out on a podium position by a whisker.
FIA grant request for 17 year old to race in F1
Yet the problem for F1’s honest new property is there’s a new kid on the block and its his team mate Kimi Antonelli. The Italian has been catapulted from European regional championships into F2 straight away this season.
Kimi has scored in seven of the twelve F2 rounds this year and sits in P9 in the drivers championship with 49 points. Bearman by way of contrast is currently in the lowly slot of P17 from the 22 drivers who have taken part in the competition and has less than half the score of his team mate (18).
A recent request from an ‘unknown’ F1 team was made to the FIA for them to grant an exception to the rule that bars any drivers from entering F1 full time until they are eighteen years of age. The only driver possibly capable of meriting this petition is Kimi Antoneli, yet he fulls the age criteria come August this year.
Its not difficult to parse the tea leaves and know this request came from Williams who are imminently to drop the hapless Logan Sargeant in favour of the Mercedes academy driver. Toto Wolff narrowly missed out on signing the services of the juvenile Max Verstappen and is determined not to make the same mistake with rising start Antonelli.
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Antonelli set for imminent Williams full time drive
With Hamilton leaving for Ferrari next season, most of the senior drivers have refused Mercedes overture to drive for them just in 2025, while Antonelli is bloodied at a team lower in the F1 pecking order. Further, Williams now have their own agenda following huge investment in the ageing facilities back at their Grove HQ.
Team boss James Vowles made it crystal clear in Canada recently that Carlos Sainz was “the number on target for Williams,” effectively ending Sergeants hopes pop another year with the team.
Yet as a Mercedes customer, Williams can drop Sargeant and replace the tens of millions he brings with a deal from Mercedes over their power units. This would see Antonelli drive the American driver’s car for the remainder of this season before stepping into the W16 that was conceived with Lewis Hamilton in mind.
F1 driver out of contract has a surprising choice
Next announcement triggers more driver moves
Oliver Bearman is set to be announced in under two weeks time as the Haas F1 replacement for Nico Hulkenberg, who is joining the Sauber/Audi project in 2025. Yet are Williams and Mercedes about to steal their thunder as Antonelli steps into F1 ahead of his team mate and having not even completed one season of international junior formula racing?
Haas F1 may well be cleaning house over the winter given the rumours that Esteban Ocon is set to join the American outfit as the replacement for Kevin Magnussen. The Dane has been out classed by Hulkenberg in qualifying and has the third worst record to a ream mate with the score currently sitting at 7-3 to the German driver.
Alpine made a last ditch attempt to persuade Carlos Sainz to rejoin the French owned F1 team, as Fabio Briatore was appointed as a special consultant to the ailing team. The Italian once team boss of the Enstone based squad spent hours over the weekend with Sainz Jnr’s father and a management team, yet it seems the pull towards the ongoing Williams revival has secured Carlos for the future and should be announced at this weekend’s Austrian GP.
Marko calls on Mercedes to pull their finger out
Since the ground effect car design regulations were introduced into Formula One in 2022, the once dominant Mercedes team have struggled to put up a serious challenge. George Russell has the only win for the Brackley based outfit, calming victory in Brazil two years ago.
During that time there have been a number of false dawns as the eight times world champions believed they had found a silver bullet upgrade, only for their hopes to be dashed once again. Such has been the lack lustre response by the Brackley engineers, Lewis Hamilton decided this winter they were not going to crack the new rules conundrum and so he’s put his faith in a move to Ferrari to revive his ailing fortunes.
However, there have been signs in Canada and Spain that Mercedes are now on a par with their arch Italian rivals, as George Russell claimed pole position in Montreal and a podium third in the race. Again in Barcelona, Lewis Hamilton topped a free practice timesheet going on to beat his team made to third, his first since Mexico 2023… READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
