Steiner identifies Bearman RISK for F1 drive

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner had high praise for Oliver Bearman after his impressive debut in F1 in Saudi Arabia.

Steiner has previously worked with Bearman, after the Brit took part in FP1 in Mexico and Abu Dhabi last season with the American team.

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The 18-year-old is Haas’ reverse driver for the 2024 season as well as Ferrari, and it was with the latter where he would make his debut in the sport replacing Carlos Sainz, after the Spaniard was diagnosed with appendicitis.

Despite having only one practice session to get used to F1 machinery, Bearman narrowly missed out of Q3 and went on to finish the race in seventh, beating fellow compatriots Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton.

Steiner: I'd put Bearman in a seat

Writing in his first column on the official F1 website, Steiner was impressive by the teenager’s performance, but was not surprised by it having worked with him closely.

“Coming in to replace Carlos at the last minute – that was a lot of pressure on him,” he said. “Let’s not forget, he was on pole for the F2 race – he was already excited about that – and then getting the news he had to replace Carlos the next day must have been a lot to deal with. But you wouldn’t have known. He was very cool throughout.

“Jeddah is a one of the toughest tracks on the calendar, it isn’t easy there. If you make a mistake they are normally very costly. He did a good job – and obviously teams will be looking at him.

“When he drove in FP1 for us, I never feared he’d do something you wouldn’t expect. He was always in control. He did the same in Saudi Arabia. Was I surprised by what he did in Jeddah? No. I had faith he could do that.

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“I think he has a good future in the sport. He just needs to stay calm and I have no doubt he will do that.”

Steiner, who was replaced as team principal at Haas by Ayao Komatsu, then urged his successor and the other team bosses to take a look at Bearman for next season.

“Based on his performance in Jeddah, after what I saw from him at Haas, I’d put him in a race seat,” said the Italian. “Obviously, it depends on the circumstances and what seats are available. You need to see the whole landscape, but he would be a candidate.

“Obviously, it is not 100% that he will succeed. It’s still a risk. But the way he handled himself in qualifying and the race in Jeddah, having just had one hour of practice, suggests the risk is so much smaller.”

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