Oliver Bearman admits there was a sense of relief when he finally signed his Haas contract earlier this week because he felt his Formula 2 results left a question mark over his future.
Haas confirmed Bearman as one of its race drivers for 2025 on Thursday morning at the British Grand Prix, with the 19-year-old singing a multi-year contract. Ahead of an FP1 appearance at his home race alongside his F2 duties, Bearman admits the tough season he’s had so far in F2 — sitting 14th in the standings and with his first win only coming in Austria last weekend — had raised some personal doubts until his deal was finalized.
“I felt like I’ve been performing well since the beginning in free practices, and obviously every time I’ve driven with Haas, I did the post-season test in Abu Dhabi, I’ve always got out of the car feeling like I’ve put in a good image of myself,” Bearman said. “I performed in a way that I was proud of, which is important to me. I knew that if I continue to do that, hopefully I would do enough to get an F1 seat. I’m happy that it’s confirmed and it’s finally the case.
“Honestly, until it was finally confirmed after Red Bull Ring on Sunday, because you know in F1, until you put a pen on a piece of paper, it’s not really official. So I knew that it was, we were working towards it, and we were pretty much getting there for a while. But you can never celebrate too soon, because F1 is a fast-moving world and you’re only as good as your last race.