Fifth in the drivers’ championship after two races in a Haas. That is Oliver Bearman‘s position as Formula 1 heads to Japan, and the straightforward reading of it is already impressive.
However, it’s the less straightforward reading that is more interesting.
As a Ferrari development driver, the Briton is on the Italian squad’s payroll, racing for a customer team in a car powered by a Ferrari engine.
Which is why every lap he completes and every race he takes part in is assessed by the team that will ultimately decide whether he graduates to a seat at the Maranello squad in the future.
While that audition has been running for some time now, the reviews are getting increasingly hard to ignore, particularly after a superb start to 2026 that follows a strong end to 2025.
Against the backdrop of the challenging new regulations, Bearman has been quietly, consistently excellent in a way of someone who has already found his level and whose level happens to be very high.
Bearman, at 20 in only his second full F1 season, has outqualified and outscored Haas team-mate Esteban Ocon in both grands prix so far this year to help the American squad become best of the rest, because Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren.
Speaking in the Motor Sport Show podcast this week, F1 journalist Mark Hughes offered a clear verdict on where Bearman stands.
“If you string together his second half of last year to the first two races of this year, he’s performing at a very, very high level every time he gets in the car,” he said.
“If he was in a top car, he would be a contender for the title, just as Russell and Antonelli and Leclerc and Hamilton.”
Consistency across a range of conditions and circuits is what separates drivers ready for the top from those still developing toward it, and Bearman has already reached that level, according to Hughes.
“They’re waiting to see that even out,” Hughes says of Ferrari’s assessment process, “and at what level does it even out at? All the evidence is suggesting that he’s absolutely ready for a top drive.”
