It’s an Ollie good show as teenager makes history
WHATEVER else happens to Ollie Bearman, he has a slice of Formula One history to his name.
Amid the maelstrom in Mexico City, the 18-year-old Essex boy became the youngest Briton to turn the wheel of an F1 car during a grand prix weekend.
And it did not go badly, either. Born only three months before Fernando Alonso won his first title in 2005, he finished ahead of the double world champion. ‘An added bonus,’ he beamed, having taken part for the American team, Haas.
He finished 15th in first practice on Friday and first of the five newbies, 1.6 seconds behind Red Bull’s unstoppable missile Max Verstappen and three-tenths short of Nico Hulkenberg, a veteran of 200 starts — in the other Haas.
Bearman was raised in Cheltenham and schooled at the city’s King Edward VI Grammar. But, to the chagrin of mother Terri, he chucked in his studies in search of success on the track.
Aged 16, he joined Ferrari’s driver academy. By then, he had claimed the German and Italian Formula Four championships. The next step was to leave his family, and two dogs, behind in Chelmsford to begin a new life in Modena, 12 miles north of Ferrari’s Maranello factory in northern Italy.
‘Maybe I got a bit lucky not to get the Essex accent,’ he says, smiling. ‘A lot of people have told me my accent has changed, even if I don’t notice it. I spend a lot of time with Italians, and communicating with people whose first language is not English isn’t easy, so I have changed my word order and ended up with this everywhere accent.
‘When I moved to Modena, it happened pretty quickly. It was like going to university two years early, but I have loved every moment so far.
My mum was very pro-school and very proeducation, but we managed to convince her in the end.
‘I miss my family and my dogs. I have an English bull terrier and a Boston terrier and they are very cute. That is the negative side. But the food in Italy is a big chunk above the English stuff, and the weather is better, too.’
Bearman has two victories to his name in Formula Two this season, his first year in F1’s feeder category. He will remain in F2 next year as well as enjoying further F1 practice sessions for Ferrari-powered Haas.
The Englishman with the Italian twang was only 18 months old when Lewis Hamilton made his F1 debut, aged 22, and pinches himself to think that they have just shared the same track.
‘When I heard Hamilton was coming up behind me on a push lap, I was like, “Wow, I will get out of the way”,’ he said. However, it was Jenson Button, the 2009 world champion, who was his hero.
‘I heard Jenson was praising me on Sky, and that was amazing for me,’ he added. ‘I don’t know why, but he was always the guy I loved and really looked up to. It is cool he recognised my performance in practice, and I will try to speak to him here — that is my goal.’
Well, it is one of them, but, as he said, they are all pinch-yourself moments right now.