Oliver Berman made his F1 debut on just one day’s notice after Carlos Sainz’s appendicitis at the 2024 Saudi Arabian GP ruled him out. Naturally, Bearman was nervous. But before stepping into fill for a star driver in arguably the sport’s biggest team, Charles Leclerc spoke to him and calmed him down.
Bearman had limited time, and Leclerc understood how daunting the build-up to the race was for him. On the High-Performance Podcast, Bearman revealed,
“He [Leclerc] was super helpful. I think he understood the difficulty of the position I was in and he was helping me through the sessions, especially before qualifying. He could tell I was a little bit nervous.”
Charles Leclerc has spoken highly of Ollie Bearman following news of the Brit joining Haas for the 2025 #F1 season.
The Monegasque driver adds that he will be there to help the youngster from Essex if needs be. #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/yCgYvCyYsw
— Pit Debrief (@PitDebrief) July 4, 2024
Bearman then explained how Leclerc and Vasseur sat down with him before the Grand Prix, and the latter helped him understand the behavior of the car in the long run. This is because he wasn’t able to put in a lot of laps together in practice.
Qualifying was decent for Bearman – who was 18 at the time – as he secured P11. However, the race turned a lot of heads in the paddock. He was able to finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris in P7, and the former spoke very highly of him.
F1 teams noticed his talent and set on a quest to sign him for 2025, which Haas succeeded in. He will partner up with Esteban Ocon at the Kannapolis-based outfit, and if he continues to impress, he will be on the big teams’ radars in the coming months.
Leclerc is full of praise for Bearman
Leclerc knows all about rising through the ranks at Ferrari to become the star. He took over the reins from Kimi Raikkonen when he left Maranello in 2019, and after spending two years as Sebastian Vettel’s teammate, became the out-right number one driver at Ferrari.
The Monegasque driver sees a bright future for the Bearman. And after the Saudi Arabian GP earlier this year, he said,
“I think he has shown the whole paddock what he was capable of and I think after a performance like that, it’s a matter of time before we see him permanently in the Formula 1 paddock.”
Hamilton will be joining Leclerc at Ferrari next year, and it is being labeled by many as the best driver line-up in the grid. Breaking it won’t be easy, but being 39, Hamilton doesn’t have a lot of time remaining in F1.
Bearman, if coached well under Ferrari’s guidance, could arguably go on to replace Hamilton and continue his legacy.
