Oliver Bearman is the 'proud' teenager to have a TikTok superstar girlfriend and was just 18 months old when Lewis Hamilton made his debut

Essex-born teenager Oliver Bearman made history at the Saudi Grand Prix by becoming the youngest British driver in Formula 1 history – and he now has a permanent seat, as Mail Sport exclusively revealed last month.

The 18-year-old had picked up six World Championship points – still more than six drivers on the grid this year – in his Ferrari last March, demonstrating the talent he possesses in a move to Formula 2.

He has since returned to the second division, winning his first race of the season in Austria last weekend, showing he is ready to make the jump to the big stage – if he hadn't already proven it.

But this time it won't be a Ferrari, but a Haas. He will have to work hard to climb the ladder, without being thrown in at the deep end, but giving him the chance to prove himself.

But who is the star trying to take motorsport by storm, 20 years Lewis Hamilton's junior and potentially the next torchbearer for British sport? Sports Mail have a look.

Education

Bearman was born in Chelmsford, Essex, in May 2005 and began competitive karting in 2013 when he competed in the Trent Valley Kart Club Championship.

His younger brother, Thomas, is also a karting driver and he also has a sister. His father, David, is the founder and CEO of the insurance company Aventum Group.

He went to private school as a child and had to convince his mother, Terri, to allow him to drop out, telling her Sports Mail It was last year that he finally got the approval to leave his family to join the Ferrari Driver Academy at the end of 2021.

The green light signaled a transfer to Italy, where he joined the academy 19 km north of the Ferrari factory in Maranello, in the north of the country. He has since developed an Italian accent.

“Maybe I was a bit lucky not to have an Essex accent,” he said. Sports Mail“A lot of people have told me that my accent has changed, even though I don't notice it.”

Relationships

Bearman is reportedly dating TikTok star Estelle Ogilvy, 21, who has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram and the video platform.

Details about how Ogilvy and Bearman met are scarce, as the couple kept their relationship very private, with very few photos of them together published.

A snap of the couple was shared in March, but it was quickly deleted.

With over 2.6 million likes on her TikTok account, Ogilvy regularly shares fashion inspiration and travel snapshots with her followers, though she has yet to show off Bearman on a large scale.

Alongside her work on social media, Estelle – who is of French and British origin – is studying for a postgraduate degree in law in London, in the hope of passing the barristers' qualifying exam.

The busy TikTok star goes by the name Silly Lettuce on social media, with Bearman's teammates at Prema Racing teasing the teenager in TikTok videos referencing his girlfriend.

Life in Motor Racing

After spending his life with the Trent Valley Kart Club, Bearman began competing in the Super One National Championships. By 2020 he was competing in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship and Italian F4, and has continued to progress from there.

In the 2021 season he joined Van Amersfoort Racing to compete in the German and Italian F4 championships, at one point winning seven races in a row.

In October of the same year, he began his Formula 3 career, taking part in post-season testing with Prema and then driving for the team in the 2022 season. He finished third in the championship.

In November 2022, it was announced that he would compete in the Formula 2 season with Perma and he finished sixth in the championship. It was a difficult season – he only scored 28 points and was 14th in the championship, although his partner, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, had similar difficulties and was ninth.

In 2023, he made his Formula 1 debut with Haas in free practice for the Mexico Grand Prix, finishing 15th and being on the same track as some of the greats.

“When I heard Hamilton was coming up behind me on a push lap, I thought, 'Wow, I'm going to get out of the way,'” he said after the session. He'll do anything but the same thing next year.

Bearman is the third youngest driver to ever race in Formula 1. Those ahead of him, Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll, aren't doing too badly. But for every success, there's a failure. And he'll want to make sure he's on the right side of history.

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

As Ferrari's reserve driver for this season, Bearman was the first in line to drive when Carlos Sainz suffered appendicitis during testing.

Arriving at qualifying without any practice sessions under his belt, the most novice of rookies qualified 11th, narrowly missing out on the third and final qualifying session in Saudi Arabia.

During the race, he kept his cool behind the wheel of one of the most powerful cars and finished seventh in his first race in the sport, becoming the youngest driver in history to score points on his debut.

Hamilton, who made his debut when Bearman was just 18 months old, hailed his fellow Briton as a “future star” after the race, describing his ride as “phenomenal”.

“I've shown what I'm capable of,” Bearman said this week ahead of the British Grand Prix. “The less experienced drivers are not that far behind the normal cohort.”

Signing with Haas

Bearman doesn't have to worry about safety in his Formula 1 debut, at least off the track. He has signed a multi-year deal with the team, which has scored a total of 19 points this season – 14 thanks to Nico Hulkenberg, whom he will replace – and five thanks to Kevin Magnussen, and works closely with Ferrari.

“It’s hard to put into words what this means to me,” Bearman said upon signing his contract. “To say out loud that I will be driving for Haas as an F1 driver makes me extremely proud.”

“To be one of the few people who can do what they dreamed of as a child is something truly incredible.”

“More than ready for the task,” Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu said of his driver. Britain’s next world champion? Maybe.