Haas driver Ollie Bearman says he has matured significantly as a person and a driver since being announced as a full-time Formula 1 competitor at Silverstone in 2024, as he prepares to race in front of a home crowd at this weekend’s British Grand Prix.
In an interview published by the Haas F1 Team, Bearman opened up about his deep personal connection to the circuit, tracing his relationship with Silverstone from childhood fan to junior formula competitor to the Formula 1 grid. The British driver first raced at the venue in 2021 in GB3 before progressing through Formula 3 and Formula 2.
“A lot’s changed — I’ve grown up a lot in those two years,” Bearman said of the period since his Haas announcement. “I feel like I’ve matured as a person, as an athlete and as a driver, as well as learned a lot about myself, putting myself in difficult situations and figuring my way out of them. I feel I’ve also become a more well-rounded driver as well, but I still see a big journey ahead of me.”
Bearman recalled the now-famous moment when, as a child, he was spotted in the crowd cheering for Sebastian Vettel on the Silverstone podium. Asked whether he ever imagined he would one day race there himself, he was candid. “No, for me it felt out of reach and impossible to do that at the time, but it’s cool to see the journey, and I’m really proud,” he said.
The 21-year-old praised Silverstone’s high-speed layout as ideally suited to the current generation of Formula 1 machinery. “I think particularly with this era of car, they tend to come alive on a circuit like Silverstone,” Bearman explained. “With the cars being slightly heavier, and a lot of low-speed tracks where the car lacks some agility, driving on a track like Silverstone with all its high-speed corners is where this generation of cars just feel fun to drive.”
Bearman also reflected on driving classic 1950s Formula 1 cars at Silverstone alongside Martin Brundle last year, calling it a “pretty cool and fantastic experience” that highlighted how far the sport has developed. “The cars were so incredibly fast back then, and they kind of feel out of place on modern tracks because you see the videos of them being driven in between hay bales and tires,” he said.
On the subject of managing the pressure of a home grand prix, Bearman said he tries to treat it like any other round of the championship. “I try not to because in the end it’s just another race and it all counts for the same amount of points. If you add more pressure to yourself it’s not a good thing, and I try not to, but naturally there is always a bit more,” he admitted.
Bearman added a personal touch, noting that last year both he and his younger brother Thomas competed at Silverstone over the same weekend. “In karting, we used to race on the same weekends all the time, as he was only one category below me,” he said. “Hopefully he’ll soon be racing in Formula 3 and then we’d be sharing a lot of the same race weekends. To have that one-off last year though, especially at Silverstone, was incredibly special.”