Sam Bird tips Oliver Bearman for a “big seat” within two years — if he keeps ironing out the scruff
Oliver Bearman’s rookie season has been heavy on lessons and light on mercy, but the Ferrari junior’s stock isn’t exactly falling. Even with the odd bruise and a bulging penalty-points tally, there’s a growing sense in the paddock that the 19-year-old is only passing through Haas on his way to something bigger.
Sam Bird, no stranger to a stopwatch from his Mercedes test days, thinks the timeline’s short. “I give it a year, maybe two years, and he’ll be in a big seat, fighting for wins, fighting for podiums,” Bird told the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast. “He’s too good.” He went further, saying Bearman’s often been “much quicker than [Esteban] Ocon” in qualifying — a bold comparison that speaks more to the impression Bearman’s making than the points table does.
That impression was forged in a hurry. Last season, while still in Formula 2, Bearman got the emergency call to Ferrari in Saudi Arabia when Carlos Sainz went in for an appendectomy — and promptly stuck it P7. A week later he became the first driver in F1 history to score points for two teams in his first two races, grabbing a tenth-place finish with Haas in Azerbaijan. Those cameo turns, plus two further stand-ins for the ill and later suspended Kevin Magnussen, were a shot of espresso for his reputation and a preview of the hunger to come.
Now confirmed at Haas for 2025, the reality of a full campaign has bitten. The Briton’s quick, combative flashes have been interrupted by rookie errors and penalty points that put him uncomfortably close to a ban — the same kind of ban that, ironically, helped open the door to his debut. The nadir came with that messy pit-lane crash under red flags at the British Grand Prix, with other skirmishes and an overtake under reds adding to the stewards’ paperwork.
And yet, just when the narrative threatened to tip the wrong way, Bearman dragged a tidy P9 out of Singapore to bank two more points. For Haas, scrapping hard to haul in Sauber for eighth in the Constructors’ standings, those little wins matter.
Bird’s take is that the promise outweighs the rust. “Okay, maybe sometimes some mistakes have crept in, but he’s proving that he’s good enough to race at the front of this Formula One grid,” he said, grouping Bearman with Isack Hadjar as the standout rookies this season and noting that Kimi Antonelli’s improvements haven’t always shouted as loudly. “Bortoleto at times as well,” he added, a nod to a crowded, lively crop.
The Ferrari thread is impossible to ignore. Bearman’s been publicly linked to the Scuderia’s future — the dream ticket — with speculation inevitably circling around what happens after Lewis Hamilton decides he’s had his fill, and with longer-term questions surrounding the timing of Charles Leclerc’s next contract cycle. That’s all crystal-ball stuff for now, but the pathway’s clear: if you’re a Ferrari junior who can deliver on Saturdays and cut the errors on Sundays, you’re in the conversation.
Bearman isn’t hiding what he wants. “I was already highly motivated, and now that I’ve had a taste, I’m even more driven,” he said earlier this year about the idea of a future with Ferrari. “It’s what gets me out of bed in the morning and motivates me in life. I hope one day to achieve it. For now, my career is with Haas, and I’m really enjoying it. They are a great team, and I think we can achieve big things together, with the hope of earning a future in Formula 1.”
The gap between the present and that future is made up of details: cleaner racecraft in traffic, fewer unforced errors, and turning those spiky qualifying laps into repeatable Sunday points. Do that, and the paddock’s heavy hitters will do the rest. Because if there’s one thing Bearman’s short, eventful F1 story has shown, it’s that he doesn’t need a lot of time to change minds.
A “big seat in a year or two” sounds like hype until you remember he already made history before his second Grand Prix had even cooled down. He’s raw. He’s rapid. He’s noisy in all the right ways. Keep the elbows out and the penalty points down, and Bird’s timeline won’t sound brave for long.
