Formula 1 Racing

RaceFans Round-up: Bearman must have space to ‘make mistakes he needs to’

Oliver Bearman, Haas, Circuit de Catalunya, 2024

In the round-up: Former Ferrari Driver Academy member Charles Leclerc says its latest new Formula 1 driver Oliver Bearman needs to be patient with himself when he makes his Formula 1 debut.

In brief

No doubt Bearman has the speed – Leclerc

Leclerc, who entered F1 through the FDA with Sauber in 2018, has high expectations of Bearman who will make his grand prix debut with Haas next year. “I think he’s such an incredibly talented driver,” he told media including RaceFans.

“I think what you need in your first year is always very specific to each driver, because it also depends on how much preparation you’ve had before getting there. I think Ollie’s very well prepared and he has shown that in Jeddah when he jumped in the car and was straightaway very, very strong.

“One typical [piece of] advice that I will give him is to not put himself under too much pressure. He’s still very, very young and the speed, he has it. He has showed it several times.

“He’s not having an easy season as the team is struggling a little bit in Formula 2 – quite a lot, actually. But he’s incredibly fast and I have no doubt that he will be super fast in Formula 1.

“He just needs to take his time, make the mistakes that he needs to in order to learn and to become a better driver and not put yourself under too much pressure, because that’s where sometimes you can perform a little bit less [than] your optimum potential.”

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Herta’s day was ruined when he pitted under green flag conditions moments before Alex Palou crashed out, triggering a caution period. He went on to finish 11th after gathering up a dramatic slide at one stage on the high-speed oval.

Josef Newgarden rose from 22nd on the grid to finish third ahead of Scott Dixon, Rinus VeeKay and Santino Ferrucci, the latter picking up several places with a series of bold late restarts. Kyle Kirkwood, Alexander Rossi, Marcus Ericsson and Marcus Armstrong completed the top 10.

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