“I am ready for the promotion,” Oliver Bearman had said when rumors of his F1 signing went rampant. The Prema racer has given us one of the breakout performances of this year’s Formula 1 season. At just 19, he has shown incredible confidence by becoming one of the favorite future rookies who will enter the pinnacle of motorsports in 2025. But even now, he needs to learn quite a lot to reach the level he needs to aim for wins in F1. And for this, he wants Lewis Hamilton‘s help.

Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari marks a historic transfer that will take place in 2025. Among the two Prema racers in F2, Oliver Bearman is a Ferrari junior while Kimi Antonelli signed under Mercedes. If Lewis Hamilton had chosen to stay at the Silver Arrows, he could have lent his precious learnings to Kimi. However, he will race for the Scuderia from the next season, and thus, Oliver will be able to take advantage of Lewis’ tutelage while Kimi will miss out on it.

In July, Haas announced they are recruiting Ollie Bearman as their newest entrant. He will partner with Esteban Ocon at the North Carolina-based team while also upholding his contract as a Ferrari junior. And the Essex native wants to use this period to absorb important lessons from Hamilton to improve as a racer. So, he said to Speedweek, “Lewis has won seven world championship titles – not many can say that about themselves. I think he brings a lot of experience with him.
I want to learn a lot from him and hope that Ferrari does the same because I think he will be a real asset to the team.”

While Oliver Bearman wants Lewis Hamilton’s help once the seven-time World Champion arrives at Ferrari, the Prema talent has motivation from Lewis already–but how?

Oliver Bearman recalls the time when Lewis Hamilton

Oliver Bearman credits Hamilton for the most amazing day of his life. The young racer is a complete Lewis fanboy, and he has acknowledged how the Mercedes pro’s words have driven him to enter F1. This year, Bearman got his big break for Ferrari when he stepped inside the cockpit of Carlos Sainz‘s car as the Spaniard missed out on the Saudi Arabian GP. Shocking all the onlookers, Ollie soared to the sixth spot on the grid, scoring Championship points during his maiden F1 Grand Prix.

When Oliver Bearman captured the spotlight with his debut Formula 1 race, he talked about how his hero, Lewis Hamilton, had foretold his fate. He said, “I received a video from him in 2015 or 2016 saying like, ‘Keep pushing and hopefully you can make it to F1 one day,’ and here I am. I think he met one of my mum’s friends and she got him to make a video. It was the most amazing day of my life. I just actually got reminded of it yesterday, I saw the video again. It was a funny moment.”

Now, Bearman is set to step into his first whole season as a regular Formula 1 driver. But fans have aired their concerns that his new partner, Esteban Ocon, will step in his shoes as he tries to score well for Haas. Do you believe the young talent is vulnerable to Ocon’s on-track mistakes too? Share your take in the comments below.