Oliver Bearman has had things to learn from Esteban Ocon’s experience, as he feels there has been no change in expectations for his rookie F1 season where he expects high from himself.
After running alongside Charles Leclerc at Ferrari for one weekend and alongside Nico Hulkenberg at Haas in 2024 F1 season, Bearman got another experienced pro to go along in the form of Ocon for the full 2025 season, as teammates. As a rookie, it is always a win-win situation.
Not only you get to learn, but if you end up beating him, it helps in catching the eyeballs. Bearman has managed to do so in some races, but his focus has been learning as much from Ocon, especially in races where strategy makes that difference in beating their rivals in a tight fight.
“Yeah, a lot, for sure, Esteban brings a lot to the table in terms of his experience and that’s really nice,” said Bearman. “He looks back to the first year, which is cool, especially in terms of experience in other races, those tracks or circumstances where the conditions are difficult, that’s where I can’t really lean on any of my experience, where Esteban really can.
“In the meetings before the race, when we’re deciding strategy and stuff, Esteban really brings a lot to the table there, which is a really good thing to learn,” summed up Bearman, whose expectations hasn’t changed by much in his first full F1 season. He still expects high level from himself and it has been much better as the season has progressed, as he can now dictate terms in clearer terms.
In the initial part, he was still going with the flow as the team suggested. But off-late, he has picked up on things and is asking for strategy and or set-up. “I would say in terms of expectation, internally and externally, nothing really changes,” continued Bearman. “I always expect a high level from myself. The good thing is that I’m much clearer with what I want now.
“I can build on previous races when we’re discussing set-up, strategy, things like that. Whereas before I would just kind of go with the flow and that across the year has become less the case and I’m starting to be a bit clearer with what I want, whether that be with tyre usage or set-up or strategy, whatever it is. I just have more data points to build on now, so that’s good.
“Of course, the midfield is tighter than ever at the moment and that means that a good day is not always as good as last year, but it’s still positive. I would say [how the season has panned out is] just in line. I think when I do a good job and I’m happy with myself, I do a good performance and the car is fast. The bad days have still been difficult, but that’s in a way expected and something that the frequency is getting better. My hit rate is improving, so that’s what I would expect at this stage of my career.”
Here’s Esteban Ocon on progress
Here’s Oliver Bearman on making too many mistakes