Frederic Vasseur maintains and recalls what he said about taking it slow with Oliver Bearman, as Kevin Magnussen adds on Haas seat.
Having made his F1 debut in Saudi Arabia in unusual circumstances, Bearman’s name rose through the ranks with media and fans hyping him up to the next level. Already his FP1 stints in 2023 brought some crowd towards him which solidified with the points results.
Amid all this hype, Ferrari boss Vasseur kept things low and insisted media to not get ahead of themselves. Bearman’s troubled Australia weekend in F2 only helped the Frenchman’s case of what he was trying to convey about the whole situation.
Vasseur reiterates that F2 remains the priority and Bearman will have to do well there. “Okay, maybe I [‘ll give you the] same comment like at the end of Jeddah and the race that everybody was flying over the moon on the race,” he said. “And I said that the most important will be to be back in F2, to perform in F2.
“And we know that it’s a huge challenge. The grid is very tight, to move from one car to the other one [F2 to F1 and back], it’s not an easy one. And then you need to have deep read of the weekend of Ollie in Australia, that he blew up the engine in quali that he didn’t finish the lap, and the first lap he had the red flag.
“And then when you start from the back of the grid, it’s not an easy one. But he has still eleven weekends in F2, I think, or ten weekends in F2 and the challenge is still the same,” summed up Vasseur, who stood vindicated about his thought process to lower the hype train for Bearman, who is certainly linked to a seat with Haas.
He is already to undertake several FP1 runs later in 2024 where the team could assess him as potential replacement of either Magnussen and or Nico Hulkenberg. The Dane, though, is not dwelling too much into the situation with plenty of races left.
When asked about him being a potential teammate, Magnussen was 50-50 on it. “Firstly, I think jumping in at a race weekend with a big team like Ferrari, there’s got to be quite a lot of pressure,” he said. “At the same time, when you get thrown in at the deep end like that, it can also kind of go the other way that you feel not a lot of pressure because the job is so big that it’s kind of like unknown what the optimum performance should look like in that case.
“So I guess it was an awesome opportunity that he got, racing in such a cool track with Ferrari. Doing your debut race with Ferrari must be a very special feeling. Would I like him as a team-mate? I think, you know, looking at him as a young guy, you know, racing, I can relate to where he is in his career and in his life. So I hope all the best for him, of course. Nico is a very, very competent team-mate. And, you know, I think we have a very good dynamic in the team. We’re working really well together.
“And I think, you know, the journey that we’re on as a team, I think it’s helpful having experienced drivers, but it’s obviously out of my control. I think we’ve just got to make the maximum of what we have right now with the two drivers and the car we have, which I think is going alright. I think he’s our reserve driver for the races that he’s doing FP1 this year, which is quite many. So Ferrari, obviously, really counting on him and putting a lot of effort on him, which is great for him,” summed up Magnussen.
Additionally, couple more F1 drivers had a say about his performance –
Daniel Ricciardo: “I think he did, obviously, a tremendous job. Probably the way I view it as well is when there’s only 20 of us on the grid, there is obviously a lot more talent than just 20. So that’s where you see someone like Ollie, who obviously has a lot of talent and, yeah, he had that opportunity to show it and he did really well. And, you know, so I think it just speaks to how tight this sport is and why, yes, there is maybe things and pressure and all that to perform because there is always going to be someone that is coming through the ranks and has obviously a lot of potential and a lot of talent. So yeah, Ollie did great. I think everyone recognised that. And it’s not easy because there’s… It’s like any sport, you can be the best in practice but when it comes to shining under the lights things can change, and he obviously did a really good job under the lights as well.
Oscar Piastri: “Yeah, I think he did a really good job. Yeah, obviously stepping in on Saturday morning for Ferrari as well, nonetheless. I think he did a great job. We were joking with him on the driver’s parade about what his neck strategy was going to be for the race. And looking at some of the onboards, I think he’s probably still a bit sore. But no, he did a great job, honestly. And yeah, I think he can be very proud of his performance.”
Here’s Frederic Vasseur on their improved run
Here’s Frederic Vasseur on Ferrari doing well on tracks like Las Vegas
Here’s Carlos Sainz on all about Australian GP win
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