Teen ace Oliver Bearman juggles Formula One fame and ‘normal’ life

MELBOURNE – Oliver Bearman raced for Ferrari in Formula One in 2024, has gone on training rides with cycling great Tadej Pogacar and this weekend starts his first full season against the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

Still only 19, and a Monaco resident like many of his F1 rivals, the Briton says he wants to make the most of “normal” life while he can.

That will not be easy for the tall Haas driver, who as a stand-in a year ago in Saudi Arabia became Ferrari’s youngest rookie and who now boasts 2.4 million followers on Instagram.

He has been spoken of already as a potential replacement at Ferrari for seven-time world champion Hamilton, the sport’s most successful driver, when the 40-year-old eventually retires.

A recent full-time move to Monaco, which brings obvious tax advantages that Bearman is open about but is also a logical step for someone who has not lived in England for years, could provide some shade from the F1 limelight.

“There’s plenty of more well-known athletes and nobody knows me, which is great,” the teenager, who left his home in Chelmsford to compete in Italian F4 in 2021 (which he won), told Reuters after testing in Bahrain in February.

“I’m still very lucky that I can get away with living a normal life. So I’m making sure to make the most of it while I still can. Hopefully, my performances are good enough to enable me to be well known. But of course, losing privacy is never fun.”

Confident about his F1 abilities, and ambitions, Bearman described pedalling on the corniche roads around Monaco with Pogacar in more self-deprecating terms: “When he’s up to be bored and cycle slowly with me, he drags me along.”

The Briton will line up in Melbourne on March 16 with three races under his belt already, two as a replacement for Haas last season.

He has scored points on two occasions but how good the Haas driver is remains to be seen, with the team doing plenty of mileage in testing without lighting up the timing screens.

“In a way, I’m not a rookie but I would still consider myself a rookie. Compared to some of these guys, I’m missing a lot of experience,” added Bearman, whose French teammate Esteban Ocon has 156 starts.

“I think in terms of season expectations, I’m measuring against myself. I just want to improve my level, be very critical in terms of my own performance. That’s really the best way to be.”

On the team, he added: “Of course, we have no idea how the car is going to perform. Even after this test, I don’t think we have a clear indication of where we stand compared to some of the others.

“Therefore, I just have to look within and be very self-critical and try and improve myself as much as possible throughout the year.”
REUTERS