Ollie Bearman has revealed that Formula 2 did not prepare him for the physical demands of Formula 1 ahead of his debut at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The British driver stepped in at the last-minute for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari after the Spaniard was taken for emergency appendix surgery. While reflecting on his impressive debut, at which he scored points with a seventh-place finish, Bearman explained that his “neck was gone” on his first run in the F1 machinery.
“My first lap in FP3, it was like 12 seconds faster than my pole lap I did in F2 the day before,” Bearman told F1 in a video alongside his Haas team-mate Esteban Ocon. “On my first run, my neck was gone already. So, I was not really looking forward to that race. And it hurt.”
When Ocon added that nothing prepares a driver for the strain an F1 car puts on your neck, Bearman said: “Exactly. Because F2, for me, was easy physically. The neck was not even a factor. Then I did an F1 race, and my neck was everything. It was a crazy step. But a fun day, fun night.”
Bearman’s drive with Ferrari made him the youngest-ever driver to compete for the Maranello outfit. After qualifying in 11th, missing out on Q3 by just 0.036 seconds, Bearman managed to keep Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton at bay in the latter stages of the race to claim seventh place.
David Bearman, father of Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team, watches on in the garage
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
While the 21-year-old explained that he could not allow himself to get stressed by the situation, his father nervously watched on from the Ferrari garage.
“I couldn’t be stressed. I was trying to hold on with my neck. For him to share that experience with me, standing at the back of the garage, I think he was struggling with nerves, but it was very special to share that day with him,” the Haas driver added.
Bearman went on to secure a full-time seat with Haas and impressed in his rookie season with the American outfit in 2025.
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