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Haas has announced Oliver Bearman will race in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, replacing Kevin Magnussen following his one-race ban.В?
The American team was widely expected to confirm the British youngster for Baku after Magnussen crossed the threshold for a race ban. It is the first race ban awarded by the FIA in 12 years since Romain Grosjean was sidelined after causing a first-corner crash in Spa.
This will be Bearman’s second weekend in an F1 outing. Haas will be the second team he has driven for following his highly successful debut for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia.
Finishing P7, he now has the chance to move up the drivers’ championship table.� Despite competing in just one race, Bearman sits P15 in the standings on six points. He is ironically tied with the driver he replaces this weekend, and from full-time next year: Magnussen Bearman will get more preparation for his Haas weekend, competing in all sessions.
Bearman ready for the ‘challenge’
In a statement released by Haas, Bearman says his experience in Jeddah with Ferrari will help with the preparation of being thrown into an unexpected race weekend:
“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’s experience with the team has seen him participate in multiple practice sessions, a factor that he believes will significantly help him in Baku:
“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.
“The team is in good form at the moment and I’ll do my best to be prepared with the time we have available. The aim is to get out there and have a solid weekend in Azerbaijan.”
Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu stated his “excitement” at seeing Bearman return to the grid, citing Hulkenberg as a reference for the youngster to measure himself against:
“I’m excited that Ollie will be driving the VF-24 alongside Nico in Baku. He’s already shown great promise in his FP1 outings and post-season test, and he performed very well when he drove for Scuderia Ferrari in Saudi Arabia, picking up points in the process.
“This is another excellent opportunity for both Ollie and the team to work together, this time throughout an entire race weekend, and he couldn’t ask for better teammate than Nico to provide him with a reference.”
Feature Image Credit: Haas F1 Media/Simon Galloway / LAT Images