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In just his second year as a Formula 1 driver, Oliver Bearman is definitely feeling much more at home in the pinnacle of motorsports than he was before. But it was not an easy path to his seat at Haas by any means, and Bearman has repeatedly turned unexpected opportunities into career-defining milestones. From his F1 debut that made Ferrari history to a cycling passion-turned-side hustle, here are three stories about how Bearman went from a green, up-and-coming driver to a confident sophomore making waves on- and off-track.
The F2 driver who made Ferrari F1 history
On Friday, March 8th, 2024, Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz withdrew from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after being diagnosed with appendicitis. This left Ferrari with no option but to call on Bearman, their F2 driver, to take Sainz’s place for the remainder of the weekend, including FP3–his only practice session in the SF-24–Qualifying, and the Grand Prix itself. In doing so, the team not only salvaged their weekend, they also opened the door for Bearman to make history.
Bearman was just 18 years and 306 days old when he made his F1 debut at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. This alone made him the youngest driver ever to race for Ferrari in the sport. But he didn’t stop there. After just barely missing out on Q3 by 0.036 seconds on Friday evening, Bearman fought from P11 on the grid up to P7 during the race itself, scoring six points and thus becoming the youngest scoring driver in the history of the Scuderia.
And having only driven in FP3 (60 minutes), Q1, Q2 of Qualifying (18 and 15 minutes, respectively) and the race (about 1 hour 21 minutes), he did all of this with less than three total hours of F1 experience.
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The stellar performance earned him high praise from many, including Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur. “The fact he had a short weekend without FP1 and FP2, without any mistakes, honestly I was completely impressed by this in Jeddah,” said Vasseur after the race. “Today I was a bit scared with the procedure of the start, the pit stop and so that he didn’t do before, but he was very solid and he didn’t do a single mistake in the race, and he was even able to speed up at the end when we told him that [Lando] Norris and [Lewis] Hamilton were behind him. Overall it’s a fantastic job.”
Understandably, his incredible ability to jump into an F1 car as a junior driver and score on debut caught the attention of several teams in the paddock, and it was little surprise when Haas, a Ferrari customer team, announced that they had signed Bearman on a full contract the following year.
At 15, he convinced Laurent Mekies that he was worth Ferrari’s investment
From a very young age Bearman became all too familiar with the pressure cooker that is the motorsports world and how few chances it offers to succeed.
“I remember when I moved up from karts to F4,” he said in a 2025 interview with Roberto Chinchero of Motorsport. “My dad was clear - we couldn’t afford to do two, three, four seasons. It was just too expensive.”
Thankfully for him, one year was all it took to impress those around him and secure a sponsorship with the global (re)insurance group, Aventum. This, in turn, allowed him to stay in F4 for one year, during which time he claimed the Italian F4 title.
And that win, in turn, paved the way for another once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with the biggest team in all of F1.
“After I won the Italian F4 title, Ferrari’s driver academy invited me for a test in Fiorano,” Bearman told Chinchero. “I remember walking into Laurent Mekies’ office – he was the team’s sporting director at the time. I was 15, sitting across from someone I’d seen on TV. I knew I had to convince them I was worth the investment. I think my hands were shaking.”
By now a seasoned veteran at making the most out of one-shot opportunities, Bearman had exactly what it took to have Mekies draw up the Ferrari Driver Academy contract. That contract is the reason Bearman was on Ferrari’s books three years later when the call came to fill in for Sainz in Saudi Arabia (where he once again converted a single opportunity into the next step of his career).
He has a second job… at a bike shop cafe?
During the 2026 British Grand Prix, Bearman was put on the spot by Career Ladder creator Max Klymenko. Obviously, Klymenko knew his current job was as an F1 driver, so the game shifted to guessing Bearman’s side hustle.
“I have a bike shop with a few friends,” he said during his recent appearance on Beyond the Grid. “We've opened up a bike shop above Monaco. It's a really popular area for cycling, it's in La Turbie.”
Bearman developed a passion for cycling a few years ago, and turned it into something even bigger at the end of 2025, he opened his own bike shop, called Triple Crown, alongside 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Antonio Giovinazzi and professional cyclists Matteo Trentin and Giulio Ciccone. As is common for many such businesses, the shop also serves as a cafe, providing its customers with fuel after a long bike ride.
“It's really cool,” said Bearman of the project. “We're really happy with how it's going and, you know, it's more of a passion project for all of us because we really enjoy cycling and it's nice to have a bit of a say in how the shop works. You know, it's our own banana bread. It's our own cakes.”
And of course, coffee. Despite the Brit being not much of a coffee person.
“We focus on good coffee. Although I don't really enjoy coffee, I know it's incredibly important and cyclists are very picky about coffee. That's one thing I've learned. But what I do enjoy is the cakes, and we have good cakes. So I'm proud."
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