Bearman admits he feels like an 'intruder' at Haas as he 'steals' car
Oliver Bearman will make his full-time Formula 1 debut with Haas next year. The young British star participated in FP1 yesterday with the American outfit but has admitted that he sometimes feels like an 'intruder' at the team. This is due to the fact that he takes some of the weekend's running away from Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen.
Bearman, who will participate in six free practice sessions across the course of 2024, was asked what his relationship was like with current full-time drivers Hulkenberg and Magnussen. "I get along okay with both of them," Bearman told GPblog and others. "I don't spend a lot of time with them of course and I always feel like I'm a bit of an intruder because I take their car for one session and I can't deny the fact that it puts them on the back foot, and that's never a nice feeling," the future Haas driver explained. Alongside his F1 duties this weekend, Bearman is once again part of the F2 grid with Prema. That is his current full-time role, after all.
Bearman believes he's "stealing" the VF-24
Bearman's running is essential as it prepares him for his rookie season. The Brit already proved he can perform in F1 earlier this year as he finished seventh at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. On that occasion, the 19-year-old replaced Carlos Sainz after the Spaniard suffered from appendicitis. "It's not my car yet, it's still their car, and I'm stealing it a little bit on some weekends. So I'm sure they'll be happy that I won't run in practices and they can keep focusing on their weekend because for sure it doesn't help either of them, whoever's car I jump in," Bearman said.
"I like talking to them and learning from them and we get along quite well." Despite Bearman's gut feeling, he continues to learn from the two experienced drivers at Haas. "Just looking from the first lap, they're straight away on it with the driving and with the lap time. And it's great to have them as a reference. Both of them are fantastic drivers and performing really well. And Haas at the moment is on a really good trajectory, finishing double points at the Red Bull Ring so it's looking really good for the team and at the end it's down to the drivers a lot of it. They are doing a great job of pushing the team forward." The starlet concluded.