Teenage Prodigy Bearman Tipped For F1 Seat For 2025 By Rival Russell

Monday, 11 March 2024 at 00:00

Oliver Bearman is the name that everyone has been talking about since the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, even his rivals.

The 18-year-old F2 driver got a very late call-up to replace Carlos Sainz in the second Grand Prix of the season. The Spanish driver underwent surgery, and the teenager got a chance of his life.

Bearman grabbed the chance and never let go, finishing seventh on his F1 debut and rewriting the history tables forever. He became the third youngest driver to start an F1 race, and the two guys that are ahead of him in this statistic were with him on the grid.

Max Verstappen started in a race when he was 17 years and 166 days old, while Lance Stroll was 18 years and 148 days old. However, the young Brit did something that neither of these two managed to do.

He scored points on his debut for finishing seventh, precisely six points, becoming the youngest-ever driver to score points on debut.

On top of that, after the race, Bearman admitted that he felt faster than Fernando Alonso and George Russell ahead of him, and it was George Russell who had a lot of praise for the youngster after the race.

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"He did an amazing job. Coming to a circuit like this as well is extremely difficult. I think he exceeded everybody's expectations. I followed him briefly In the past, but I think he caught a lot of people by surprise."

Russell wasn't the only one to praise the 18-year-old, as Charles Ferrari also heaped praise on his one-time teammate. However, the Mercedes driver went one step further, admitting that he would expect to see him on the grid in 2025 or 2026.

"It is extremely difficult. But if you've got the speed and the talent, at the end of the day it’s just another race car. He clearly had the confidence straight from the off, pushing the car to the limit. So respect for him for the job is done. I probably expect to see him on the grid next year or the year after."