Oliver Bearman said he “felt really comfortable” behind the wheel of the Haas VF-24 during the opening practice of Formula 1’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.
Bearman is the man of many racing shirts in 2024, when he isn’t donning Prema or Ferrari racewear, he’s clad in Haas colours.
After a surprise GP debut with Ferrari in Saudi Arabia, Bearman took on the first of six slated FP1 sessions with Haas at Imola and it’s safe to say he acclimatised well.
The British teenager finished 15th on the timesheets, continuing to show he isn’t out of his depth in the F1 arena.
“I was quite happy, honestly,” Bearman said of his FP1 performance.
“I didn’t maximise my soft tyre run qualifying sim like always, because I’ve never done that so far, but it’s very early days for me.
“So I’m not putting too much pressure on myself to nail that too soon because of course it is FP1, I don’t want to risk too much.
“But the long run I felt really comfortable and generally, I felt like I could push the car and it was making sense underneath me.
“My inputs were, you know, translating, I was getting a consistent balance underneath me and that’s a good feeling.”
Bearman is quickly acclimatising to his dual role of F1 reserve and Formula 2 competitor and adjudged he’s handling things better in Imola than he did at Abu Dhabi last year.
“I think the first time I did [both F1 and F2] in Abu Dhabi, I struggled a little bit,” he said.
“You know, qualifying in F2 was a bit compromised.
“But I’m happy I got that experience at the end of last year to do that step and now I know what I tripped up on last year and what to look out for.
“And I think today I did a decent job on that.”
Bearman had a rollercoaster day in Formula 2 with Prema.
He started the day with a heavy crash in practice and in qualifying he had a front-row lap deleted and then reinstated after track limits confusion.
“Well, I was hoping you guys didn’t see my crash in F2,” he said.
“But no, I’m glad that I managed to kind of put that to one side in F1.
“Of course, I was a bit nervous jumping back in F1 after that little mistake, but this track punishes little mistakes and I learned the hard way.
“Generally I’m quite happy with overall how the day went, of course, the little crash in [free practice] didn’t help me, but we managed to come back.”
