British teenager Oliver Bearman set to join F1 grid in 2025 with Haas

Oliver Bearman is set to become the fourth British driver on the Formula 1 grid in 2025 after signing a deal with Haas.

He will race against Sir Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and George Russell next season after making his debut in March at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Bearman, 19, is currently a reserve driver at Ferrari and Haas and was called up at the last minute to Jeddah after Carlos Sainz suffered appendicitis.

This made him, then aged 18, the third youngest driver to ever start an F1 race, behind only Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll, and he made quite an impression.

Despite his limited time behind the wheel of an F1 car, he qualified in a respectable 11th place and finished seventh on the grueling street circuit. Although this is his only race, he is currently still 12th in the overall championship standings.

Since then, he has been linked with getting a full-time seat at Haas and, according to the Daily Mail, those rumors have come true as Bearman “secretly signed” with the American team.

The Essex-born rider is said to earn between £250,000 and £300,000 in his first season.

It is unclear who his teammate will be, with Nico Hulkenberg leaving Haas for Sauber in 2025, while Kevin Magnussen, under fire, is out of contract at the end of the year.

Esteban Ocon, who is set to leave Alpine, is closely linked to the team.

If the reports are true, it will be the first time four full-time British drivers have been on the grid since 2013, when Hamilton, Jenson Button, Paul di Resta and Max Chilton were racing.

Speaking about Bearman's performance in Saudi Arabia, seven-time champion Hamilton said: “To be taken out of your class and put straight into a Ferrari and then to go straight to testing, he did a phenomenal job and that just showed that he is a truly bright future star.

Bearman has enjoyed an impressive rise in F1, winning German and Italian Formula 4 in 2021 before finishing third in Formula 3 the following year.

Last season he finished sixth in Formula 2 and is racing in the series again in 2024, currently 13th in the standings, although of course he missed both races in Jeddah.

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