Ollie Bearman delivered a surprise home victory for Prema in Formula 2’s Monza sprint race. Afterwards, he reflected on his three-year stint with the team and told Feeder Series that Prema has developed him into a driver ready for F1.

By Steven Walton

Bearman started the sprint race from eighth after taking a five-place grid drop given to him at the previous round for a collision with Campos’ Pepe Martí.

Despite this, Bearman progressed forward quickly, picking up a handful of positions off the line and during a safety car restart on Lap 4. Bearman snatched the race lead on Lap 7 when then-race leader Martí went deep at Turn 1.

Bearman was then unchallenged on his way to a second victory of the 2024 season. His other win came in the sprint race in Spielberg.

Monza is a home race for Bearman’s F2 team Prema and Scuderia Ferrari, which Bearman is aligned with as a member of its Driver Academy.

“So of course if I could choose any race, except Silverstone, I would win in Monza,” Bearman said. He added that winning “on top of all the troubles that we’ve been having” was “a great feeling.” 

Bearman spoke highly of Prema after the race, noting that his journey with the team was about to end. Bearman will graduate to F1 in 2025, driving for the Haas F1 Team. 

“I’m going to be really sad to leave honestly,” he told Feeder Series. “When I joined Prema, I was probably like a metre shorter… actually I was already quite tall, but anyway, I was a lot younger.” 

Bearman’s first season with Prema was in F3 in 2022. He joined the Italian squad off the back of a championship-winning campaign in Italian F4 with Van Amersfoort Racing.

“When I joined [Prema], I didn’t know much about vehicle dynamics, about how to setup a car, or really anything. They’ve developed me into a driver who’s ready for F1,” Bearman told Feeder Series.

Bearman finished third in F3 with Prema. He then jumped into F2 with Prema for 2023, finishing sixth in his rookie season.

Bearman stayed with the Italian team for 2024 and was expected to be a title contender, but Prema has struggled to adapt to F2’s new car.

“I think a lot of us came into this year expecting to be fighting for the title and obviously for whatever reason it hasn’t turned out to be that way,” Bearman said. “I’m of course really sad that it hasn’t played out like that, because the guys really deserve it.”

Bearman said he hoped Saturday’s victory in Monza would give himself and the team more confidence in the final four rounds of the F2 season.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency