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Oliver Bearman and Arthur Leclerc finished third and sixth respectively in the Formula 3 standings. Now, the PREMA Racing teammates are headed to Formula 2.
While Bearman is staying with PREMA for this switch, Leclerc has moved on and signed with DAMS Racing. Both the Ferrari juniors took part in the Formula 2 post-season test in Abu Dhabi and spent time getting up to speed with the series.
Bearman’s experience
In his rookie year of Formula 3, Bearman finished just seven points off the title. Some drivers make the choice to stay a little longer in a category to make a stronger bid for the championship, but Bearman and PREMA made the choice not to wait. He’ll be partnering with Frederik Vesti in Formula 2 next season.
The Formula 3 season ended in September, leaving the Ferrari junior with a while to wait before it was time to get back in a racing car. But Bearman said it was worth the wait.
“It was a really cool experience,” he told Formula 2. “It’s been a long time coming and waiting for it. My last time in a car before this was in September, so it’s been a while. It was really good to finally get a go in the F2 car.
“I was here for the race weekend to kind of see how everything works and to find my feet. Now to finally drive it, it was very cool. We covered our full programme, we did all the performance stuff and the race runs, everything we need to do. I’m feeling quite confident after this and now looking forward to next season.”
Preparation for next year
But ahead of next season, they still have work to do. Making the step up from Formula 2 isn’t always a smooth transition, and according to Bearman, there’s a whole lot to learn.
“There’s a lot of takeaways, a lot of stuff to look at and analyse with the team for the new year. We managed to do a lot of race runs, which is super important. The degradation is quite high, at least compared to what I’m used to so it’s nice to get some race runs under my belt. The pitstops, we did a lot of practice for those. It’s a lot of new things for me but it’s part of the learning process and it’s been useful.
“I think it’s just everything – the step from prime to option, the pitstops, the options to prime in the race, there’s so many things to master. My head was kind of confused at the start, but now it’s all a bunch of new things and I would say I took away everything, at least as much as I could.”
The 2023 season starts in March, but the team is already getting ready. According to Bearman, “Prep has already started. I’m heading back to PREMA next week to continue doing some work on the simulator and stuff like that, as well as analysing the test just gone, but I think the preparation is already well underway. This is the first time really we’ve looked towards next year.”
Leclerc’s experience
Unlike Bearman, Leclerc is not just headed to a new category but a brand new team as well. Still, he seemed to get along well with the team during their first weekend together.
“It’s been nice,” Leclerc told Formula 2. “Especially because it’s a French team and I speak French, so it’s quite easy to relate with the team and get on with them. They are working really well at the moment. I felt really welcome within the team as well, so I think it went well.
“We’ve done quite good during this test, we adapted quite well together, we worked quite well together and at the same time, I adapted to the car quite fast also. I’m pretty happy. Now, obviously, there is still some more work to do to find a bit more performance, but it was good.”
While Leclerc cited some difficulty working with a brand-new car for the first time, he also said it was enjoyable to drive.
“It’s really fun to drive, there was a lot of experience testing as well as F3 rivals so the competition was really high. It’s quite hard I’d say. It’s a completely different car to F3. The F2 car has almost 700 horsepower, so it’s not easy to handle, but to be honest, it’s quite fun. I’ve learned quite a lot especially because everything is new. So you can only learn more and more. I have a good baseline now to build from.”
Leclerc and Bearman are just two Formula 3 drivers that will make the step up to Formula 2 in 2023. Two others are already confirmed and there will be more to follow in the coming months.
Feature Image Credit: Joe Portlock – Getty Images