Charles Leclerc Gives “Piece of Advice” to Ferrari Junior Oliver Bearman Ahead of His Rookie Year

Haas signed Oliver Bearman for the 2025 season after the 19-year-old finished an impressive seventh in his F1 debut with Ferrari earlier this year in Saudi Arabia when he stepped in for Carlos Sainz. With Bearman now all set to be a part of the F1 grid next year, Charles Leclerc has given him some advice.

The Monegasque said, “I think what you need in your first year is always very specific to each driver because it also depends on how much preparation you’ve had before getting there”. Although Leclerc believes that the 19-year-old is well prepared, he yet believes that he should take it easy in his first year.

“One typical [piece of] advice that I will give him [Bearman] is to not put himself under too much pressure. He’s still very, very young and the speed, he has it. He has shown it several times,” explained Leclerc, per RaceFans.

However, Bearman is struggling in F2 this year as he is only 13th in the championship. The Briton has only scored 34 points and is 25 points behind his Prema Racing teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Despite Bearman’s underperformance relative to Antonelli, Leclerc has chosen to defend the Ferrari junior.

The #16 driver believes that it is the Prema team itself that is struggling, and yet Bearman has been performing reasonably well for them this year. Therefore, Leclerc believes that Bearman should be given the liberty to “make the mistakes that he needs to in order to learn and to become a better driver”.

Ollie Bearman on Lewis: “

He’s won seven world championships, and that’s something that not many people can say. So he can bring a good mentality to the team, a winning mentality, and of course, his talent is not deniable. He’s one of the best to have ever done it,…1/2 pic.twitter.com/e12O5ABrM2

— Sir Lewis Updates (@LH44updates) July 4, 2024

Since Bearman is part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, he will most likely have the opportunity to drive for the Prancing Horse sometime in the future. However, that possibility is unlikely to arise anytime soon until Lewis Hamilton, who will join Ferrari in 2025, leaves them.