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Former Haas team boss Guenther Steiner recently discussed Ferrari junior driver Oliver Bearman competing in the 2024 F1 Azerbaijan GP. The British driver will race instead of Kevin Magnussen, who received a race ban after collecting 12 penalty points on his super license.
The Kannapolis-based team decided Oliver Bearman would race in the Azerbaijan GP while the Dane served his ban.
In his column on F1.com, Steiner said Bearman was the "obvious choice" for the race at Baku. However, The former Haas boss added that the young driver's previous experience driving a Ferrari would be very different from driving for Haas.
"Ollie was the obvious choice to stand-in for him at Haas. It’s also going to be a reality check. Jumping in a Ferrari is one thing, jumping in one that isn’t doing podiums is a different thing to get your head around," Steiner said.
Steiner also added that driving in the Azerbaijan GP will be good for Bearman before he debuts with the American team in 2025.
"But it’s good for him to get in the car ahead of his full-time debut with the team next year. He did a great job for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia and I’m sure he’ll do a good job in Baku – and then next season," he added.
At the Italian GP, Magnussen was given a 10-second time penalty for his maneuver against Pierre Gasly. He had already collected 10 penalty points on his super license and his penalty in Monza resulted in two more penalty points, which meant a race ban.
A few weeks before this, Haas announced that F2 driver Bearman would be one of the new drivers for the team in 2025. He will drive alongside Esteban Ocon, who currently drives for Alpine.
Oliver Bearman on replacing Kevin Magnussen in Haas for the Azerbaijan GP
Oliver Bearman recently talked about him getting into the driver's seat for an entire race weekend for Haas in Baku. In an official team press release, he said that his experience of stepping in for Ferrari's Carlos Sainz in Saudi Arabia will help him.
"It’s definitely more of a challenge stepping in to race as a reserve driver, with limited prep-time and so on, but I’m in the fortunate position of having done it earlier in the year with Scuderia Ferrari, so I can at least call on that experience," Bearman said.
The Ferrari junior further added:
"I’ve also had four FP1 sessions with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team in the VF-24 already this season, so undoubtedly that will also prove to be valuable in tackling the full race weekend in Baku."
Bearman has driven for Haas during practice sessions in Spain, the UK, Italy, and Hungary this year. The 19-year-old added that with the team being in "good form," he would try his best to be prepared for the Azerbaijan GP.
