Wolff Praises 'Spectacular' Bearman Amid Opportunity Of Signing Different Rookie

Sunday, 17 March 2024 at 21:00

Mercedes's team principal watched Oliver Bearman's performance during the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and shared his thoughts after the race.

Ollie Bearman gave his performance during the second race of the 2024 season not only a massive boost to himself but to all the rookies who are waiting for their chance in F1 as well

Scuderia Ferrari engineer Jock Clear said the Italian team already had some trust in the 18-year-old to put him in the seat at one of the most challenging tracks as they did, but he "absolutely vindicated that choice." As quoted by GP Blog, Toto Wolff said about Bearman:

"He was one of the good ones last year, already in F2. And you can see that the level of performance is just so high with these young generations."

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Mercedes' team principal would have been watching the rookie's race very closely as he has the opportunity to bring Andrea Kimi Antonelli to Mercedes next year.

Antonelli is even younger than Bearman but has shown great promise, winning almost all the competitions he has entered until now. Bearman's excellent performance might be a significant factor in convincing Wolff that a rookie would be capable of coming straight into the seat of Mercedes.

Funny enough, Antinelli is Bearman's teammate in the F2 Championship this season, driving for Prema Racing. Wolff added:

"It starts from the Minis, at eight years old in a kart, they do 150 testing days. And so you grow real professionals through the ranks. It gets more and more competitive from go-karting to the Junior Formulas."

"The one that rise to the top are perfectly capable of being very successful in F1. And you can see that with Bearman. He's being put in the deep and he's performed. His last third of the race was spectacular."