Oliver Bearman has raced thrice in F1 last season as a substitute driver for Ferrari and Haas. The 2025 season will be his first full-time season and this will allow him to pick his racing number per his choice. Previously, Bearman has raced with two numbers — 38 and 50 with Ferrari and Haas respectively — but has chosen 87 as his full-time number.
The 19-year-old revealed the reasoning behind this choice in an interview with Formule1.nl, back in July 2024. “87 is a number with a story and that is why I chose it. I was born on the eighth (in May, ed.). And my brother on the seventh (August, ed.),” he said.
“In addition, my father [David] also raced himself. You guessed it: with number 87. So the circle is complete for us.”
David Bearman has mainly made a name for himself in the business world, particularly in the insurance broking and underwriting industry. However, he has competed in GT racing where he used #87 as his son revealed.
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Not many specifics are available about his racing career, but David is quite passionate about motorsport, which was evident at his son’s debut in Jeddah. The British entrepreneur was anxious in the Ferrari garage as Oliver competed in his maiden F1 race, fighting his way through to score points. Naturally, the 19-year-old prodigy will be keen to make his father proud as he gears up for his rookie season in F1.
Oliver seems quite emotionally attached to his family, given the logic behind his racing number having ties to his father and brother. Most young drivers choose their numbers based on their favorite drivers and also have other reasons, so the Haas F1 driver’s sentiments behind his #87 stand out.
What numbers Oliver’s rookie colleagues have picked?
Five other full-time rookie drivers are gearing up for the 2025 F1 season besides Oliver. One of them is Alpine junior driver Jack Doohan. Doohan has picked #7 as his racing number — the same number that Kimi Raikkonen used to sport.
The Aussie youngster considers Raikkonen a very special individual in F1 and, thus, went ahead with picking the 2007 world champion’s racing number. Gabriel Bortoleto, who will debut for Sauber, has also chosen a multiple world champion’s racing number.
The reigning F2 champion will race with #5 on his car — a number that became synonymous with the legendary Sebastian Vettel. Bortoleto always admired the four-time world champion and also had success with #5 previously in Formula 3, so it became a natural choice for him, given it was available.
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Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar has gone for #6 — a number previously used by Nico Rosberg and Nicholas Latifi. Hadjar cited his go-karting success as the reason for picking the 2016 world champion’s number. His Red Bull colleague, Liam Lawson, has similar go-karting sentiments behind picking #30 as his permanent number.
Lastly, Andrea Kimi Antonelli will sport #12 on his Mercedes W16, given he has been using it since his F4 days. Antonelli’s choice also has a link with Ayrton Senna — the idol of his predecessor Lewis Hamilton — who used #12 in F1 from 1985 to 1988.
