After a fantastic F1 debut with Ferrari at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Oliver Bearman is one of the favorites to secure one of the Haas seats in 2025. However, Nico Hulkenberg, who currently occupies one of the Haas seats, believes Bearman should focus on F2 first before setting his eyes on F1.
The 18-year-old Briton is currently languishing at the bottom of the F2 standings as he registered a DNF in the season opener in Bahrain and did not compete in the second race in Saudi Arabia because of his F1 duties. As a result, Bearman interestingly has more points in F1 than in F2. This is why Hulkenberg believes that Bearman needs to focus on his F2 season this year if he does not want his achievements so far to be “forgotten“.
Speaking about the same, Hulkenberg said to Motorsport, “I think he’s (Bearman) got a big job on his hands in F2 first of all because otherwise if he’s not doing well there, this Jeddah race is going to be forgotten in two days. You know how this business works. So I think quite a bit of pressure on him there to deliver now in F2, actually.”
A baptism of fire for Ollie Bearman but he rose to the occasion #F1 #SaudiArabianGP @ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/FtBZr7obVF
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 10, 2024
Although Bearman is at the bottom of the F2 standings currently, he has shown enough promise to finish with a good result. After a disappointing performance in Bahrain, Bearman clinched pole at Saudi Arabia. The young Briton would have perhaps even scored several points during the race in Saudi Arabia, had he not had to fulfill his F1 duties.
Oliver Bearman looks to recover lost ground in F2
Oliver Bearman is aware of how critical this year’s F2 performance will be for him to earn a seat in F1 next year. Therefore, he’s not willing to take anything for granted.
Speaking about this, Bearman said as per Racer.com, “The focus goes back to Formula 2 and it’ll be a tough championship from now on because I am two rounds behind everyone. Bahrain was a different story, but here (Saudi Arabia), I could’ve scored some good points. I’ve got more points in Formula 1 than I do in Formula 2 at this point, so I’ve got some more work to do.”
Ollie Bearman: “in F2 you drive to the limit of the car, in F1 you drive to the limit of the driver.” pic.twitter.com/a1Th3FvZ2B
— Dom (@Wom_Dings) March 8, 2024
The competition in Formula 2 is quite difficult this season. Since drivers like Zane Maloney, Emerson Fittipaldi, Kush Maini, and Paul Aron are all in fantastic form, Bearman has it all to do if he wants to win this year’s F2 championship.
Maloney currently leads the championship after two race weekends with 47 points, followed by Fittipaldi and Dennis Hauger with 32 and 31 points respectively. However, since the F2 season is long, Bearman is likely to have many more opportunities to recover some of the lost ground and still challenge for the title.
