Ollie Bearman drops major hint about his next Haas F1 team-mate
Has Ollie Bearman just given a clue as to who his next Haas F1 team-mate will be?
Ollie Bearman appeared to drop a major hint about the identity of his next Haas Formula 1 team-mate by suggesting it will be a rookie driver.
On Wednesday it was confirmed that Esteban Ocon will exit the Haas F1 team at the end of the 2026 season, leaving a seat open alongside Ollie Bearman for next year.
Ferrari junior and Formula 2 championship leader Rafael Camara is the favourite to replace Ocon and Bearman has seemingly let slip that he will have an inexperienced team-mate in 2027.
“I'm looking forward to coming into a new role maybe within the team as the leader, being the most experienced driver within the team potentially,” the 21-year-old Briton said ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
“So on that sense, I think it's a good opportunity for me to continue to learn.”
Asked if he feels ready to lead an F1 team, Bearman replied: “Yeah, I think that I've come a long way in those two years.
“My first few races were very, very unique circumstances, but even if I compare to the level that I was performing at last year, I've definitely come a long way, especially with how I interact with the team off-track and what I understand about how to get the most out of the guys and developing the car as well.
“So on that sense, I'm looking forward to this kind of new role.”
Bearman also paid tribute to the departing Ocon, stating that he has learnt a lot from the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix winner during his time at Haas.
“Esteban has been a great teammate and it's a shame to see him going,” Bearman said. “But I think I've learned a lot from him, over the year and a half, or just over a year and a half that we've been together.
"Of course, he's a very quick driver, but also the way that he works with the team has been quite interesting for me to see, because, coming in as an F2 driver where you're almost a client of the team and you get told what to do.
“You step up to F1 and now the team looks to you for inspiration, for motivation, for a direction in terms of development and things like that, which is the first time I've been in that situation. So in that sense, I learned a lot from Esteban. So that's been really useful for me.”
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