Bearman ‘quite happy’ with smooth F1 debut with Haas in Baku

Haas rookie Ollie Bearman was all smiles after Friday’s opening day of running at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, having enjoyed a smooth couple of sessions as an entry into his second career race weekend in F1.

The 19-year-old British driver, who will compete full-time with Haas next season, was called up to replace Kevin Magnussen, who is serving a one-race ban.

Despite Baku’s tricky track conditions, Bearman was spared any incidents which allowed him to familiarize himself with Haas' approach to a full weekend and refine his understanding of Azerbaijan’s demanding venue.

Bearman showed impressive consistency throughout both practice sessions, improving his lap times as the day progressed and ultimately finishing in the top 10.

He also managed to stay close to his vastly more experienced teammate, Nico Hulkenberg, with the two Haas drivers separated by just 0.072 seconds at the end of Free Practice 2.

“FP2 was amazing, the best session of my life!” Bearman enthused at the end of the day, tongue-in-cheek.

“No, it was nice to do a full Friday, build up step by step without having to rush anything.

“I was quite happy with how the day went, how it finished up. I was confident in the car, which is really important at a track like this, so a good day.”

• 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Free Practice 2 - Results

Bearman is no stranger to Baku’s challenging 6-km layout, having first raced at the circuit last year in Formula 2.

And it was a banner weekend for the Ferrari junior who blitzed, securing pole position and winning both the event’s Sprint and Feature races.

He reflected on his experience on Friday with Formula 1’s much larger and more powerful machinery.

"Yeah, it’s tight. I only hit the wall once today in FP2, but it’s little things, you play with the margins here."

Despite the minor brush with the barriers, Bearman felt increasingly comfortable as the day progressed.

"I really built up the confidence and at the end I felt really good. I was taking it easy, step by step, but now I’ve built some confidence I feel like I can start to increase."

For Bearman, the focus remains on steady improvement and maintaining a clean weekend.

"My goal is to be proud of my performance," he said. "That’s going to be done by improving myself, eventually finishing at a level that I know I’m capable of and staying clean – having a clean tomorrow will be important."

Haas ended the day with both cars in the top 10, a promising start for the team as they aim to close the gap to their rivals in the constructors' championship.

Hulkenberg, who finished eighth in FP2, acknowledged the challenges of adapting to the Baku circuit.

"It was very, very dusty and sandy this morning – grip conditions were very poor, and then huge track evolution over the day, so just going with that and staying on top of the circuit evolution was key today," the German driver explained.

Though pleased with the pace, Hulkenberg cautioned against reading too much into the practice results.

"Didn’t have the cleanest run on the low fuel soft in the afternoon but it’s okay, we just need to learn from it, understand our package, understand the tyres and everything," he said.

"I think it’s positive and a decent pace that we can compete from this weekend."

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