The hype surrounding Britain’s Oliver Bearman has only increased throughout his rookie campaign in Formula 2. Aged just 18, the Ferrari youngster is paving his way to Formula 1 with a strong start to his F2 career as he currently sits fourth in the standings. During the most recent round at Silverstone, Feeder Series spoke exclusively to Bearman about whether his performances thus far have met his own lofty expectations.

By Tyler Foster

Taking a glance at Bearman’s career achievements paints a picture of success and high potential. Back in 2021, the then 16-year-old engineered the unique accomplishment of winning both the Italian and ADAC Formula 4 titles within the same season. Without waiting, he made the jump straight into FIA Formula 3 with Prema, finishing just seven points behind the more experienced champion, Victor Martins. At this point, it was clear that Bearman had the junior résumé of a future F1 star.

Having graduated to F2 with Prema for 2023, he has continued to showcase his ability with three victories from the opening twelve races. Despite these impressive highlights, Bearman is ultra-critical of himself and told us that his rookie year has been underwhelming.

“To be honest as a whole, it’s not been a very good first half or not up to my standards or what I expect from myself, considering my self-belief. But, there’s been a lot of other factors which meant we’ve been a bit lucky to be in the top four.

“On the other hand, I’m not really looking at the championship: more on honing my craft let’s say, and focusing on improving my performance and my level. Yeah, we’ll look at the championship in Abu Dhabi.”

The British driver has more recently shown a knack for dominating weekends, most notably in Baku and Catalunya. These two feature race victories from pole have given Bearman over half of his 88 points scored prior to Hungary. In his eight-round F2 career so far, he has taken pole position the same amount of times as Théo Pourchaire has in the Frenchman’s three years of the series.

However, his incredibly high level of performance has not been maintained consistently this season, resulting in a 47-point gap between himself and his championship-leading teammate, Frederik Vesti. As the youngest driver on the F2 grid, inexperience is a key factor in these errors. Ultimately, Bearman is aware that this is “inexcusable” if he is to achieve his extreme targets.

“Clearly, it’s not been as good so far, for a number of reasons. First of all, of course there is a lot of variables in F2, which don’t exist in F3, which obviously makes life a bit more difficult and a bit more difficult to predict. But also, from my side, I have taken longer to get to know the limits of this car – what it does and doesn’t like, and how much you can push it. So that’s not been ideal for the consistency and still too many mistakes from my side. Red Bull Ring is a good example.”

In Austria, Bearman fell foul of track limits in a disastrous qualifying session that saw him lineup P19 for both races of the weekend. With the help of safety cars on both Saturday and Sunday, the Prema driver was able to wrestle back into the top ten twice and score 11 points in total. Meanwhile, teammate Vesti would achieve P2 in qualifying and a feature race podium, only exacerbating the missed opportunity for Bearman.

“That’s an inexcusable mistake that cost us some points for sure. Now I feel like wherever we go, we’ve had good pace. So, from now I just want to do what I did [at Silverstone], where the bad days are within the top 10, within the top five even is good. And the good days, obviously we’re on the front row.”

There are currently three British drivers in Formula 1, while six British drivers are competing in the chaos of Formula 3. However, there is only one person flying the Union Jack in Formula 2 this season. Bearman’s nationality places extra weight upon his young shoulders from fans who want him to follow in the footsteps of compatriots George Russell and Lando Norris, two racers who also excelled as rookies in Formula 2.

For Bearman, this pressure is nothing new and is purely external. “I mean, the only thing bringing pressure is the people asking if it brings pressure. But I’ve had that question a lot to be honest.”

In spite of his age, Bearman already presents himself as a consummate professional, able to maintain subdued and rise above any raw emotion. While talking to Feeder Series about the experience of competing in F2 at his home Grand Prix at Silverstone, Bearman became overjoyed at the thought of his local support. He told us that his connection with the British fans has only helped motivate him to succeed more.

“I think first of all, I have to say that it’s a huge honour to first of all have a home grand prix because not many drivers even have the privilege of having a home grand prix. So, let’s start with that, and the fact that arguably this is the best grand prix of the year.

“It’s amazing to see, like last year I had great support and this year it’s even better considering I’m in F2. I’m the highest British driver outside of F1, so that’s really, really nice.

“You know, I only really stopped and thought about it when I got to the hotel. It’s a lot to take in, but no, I was really thankful for that; and to be honest, it doesn’t bring pressure, just motivation.”

Header photo credit: Prema Racing