Steiner on Bearman: 'I would give him that seat'

Oliver Bearman managed to surprise friend and foe with an impressive weekend in Saudi Arabia. He also made a good impression on Guenther Steiner, Haas team boss, when Bearman completed some FP1s for the team.

"Coming in to replace Carlos at the last minute – that was a lot of pressure on him. Let’s not forget, he was on pole for the F2 race – he was already excited about that – and then getting the news he had to replace Carlos the next day must have been a lot to deal with. But you wouldn’t have known. He was very cool throughout," Steiner said on F1's website.

Acknowledging the difficult Jeddah circuit, Steiner is all the more pleased that Bearman drove so well: "Jeddah is a one of the toughest tracks on the calendar, it isn’t easy there. If you make a mistake they are normally very costly. He did a good job – and obviously teams will be looking at him." A mistake on the track can be costly and Steiner knows that best. Mick Schumacher, on behalf of Haas, had a big crash during Q2 of the Grand Prix, after which the German was unable to compete for the rest of the weekend.

Calling Frederic Vasseur

Fred Vasseur, who started as Ferrari's team boss last year, called Steiner to negotiate whether Bearman could drive some free practice sessions. "We said yes. There was no big discussion," Steiner said. He continued: "It would be difficult for me to argue with Fred about young drivers because he has good experience working with them, and for sure he did his homework before coming to us and asking to put him in our car."

A regular seat in Formula 1 is, therefore, in the sights for the young Briton. At least, if it is up to Steiner: "Based on his performance in Jeddah, after what I saw from him at Haas, I’d put him in a race seat. Obviously, it depends on the circumstances and what seats are available. You need to see the whole landscape, but he would be a candidate. Obviously, it is not 100% that he will succeed. It’s still a risk. But the way he handled himself in qualifying and the race in Jeddah, having just had one hour of practice, suggests the risk is so much smaller."