Oliver Bearman reveals Lewis Hamilton motivational video after penning first F1 deal

Oliver Bearman has revealed he once received a video from Lewis Hamilton while still a junior driver, at the request of a friend of one of his parents who met him, to motivate him to reach Formula 1.

Bearman has now become the latest driver confirmed for the Formula 1 grid next season, the British teenager penning a multi-year deal to join Haas from 2025 – and he will line up against Hamilton on a full-time basis, with the seven-time World Champion moving to Ferrari next year.

Oliver Bearman: ‘Crazy’ to share the track with Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in 2025

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Bearman impressed while making his debut earlier this year as a stand-in at Ferrari back in Saudi Arabia, driving at short notice for the unwell Carlos Sainz and scoring points in the process at a highly-demanding circuit in Jeddah.

With six FP1 appearances having been lined up for Haas this year, the Ferrari junior has now confirmed he will become a full-time driver for the team next season on a multi-year contract.

Ahead of his next FP1 outing at his home race at Silverstone, Bearman revealed to media including PlanetF1.com that he received a message as a youngster from Hamilton motivating him to reach the top of motorsport, and recently rewatched the video as well.

“I hope I’m [racing] against him [next year], that means we did a good job!” He said of Hamilton.

“Actually, I was looking back, I received a video from him in 2015 or ’16 saying, ‘Keep pushing, hopefully you can make it to F1 one day’, and here I am.

“So, it’s crazy to share the track with these guys who I’ve watched racing, even Fernando [Alonso].

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“It’s something pretty special, and it’s a pinch yourself moment, because these guys are, in my eyes, huge stars and someone that I look up to, and it’s quite amazing that I’ll share the circuit with them.”

When asked more about how the video message from Hamilton came about, he added: “I think he met one of my mum’s friends or something like this, and she got him to make a video – and it was like the most amazing day of my life.

“And then I just actually got reminded of it yesterday, I saw the video again, and it was it was a funny moment.”

For what this deal at Haas means to him as a whole, however, it is the culmination for Bearman of having moved all the way through the junior motorsport ranks to take a place in Formula 1 next season.

He confirmed the contract was signed at the end of last week at the Red Bull Ring, and he relived that moment and what it means to him.

“In F1, until you put a pen on a piece of paper, it’s not really official,” he said.

“So I knew that it was that we were working towards it, and that we were pretty much getting there, but for a while, you can never celebrate too soon because F1 is a fast-moving world and you’re only as good as your last race.

“So I was, of course, relieved when it finally came about, and I shared that moment with my manager who has been with me all the way, and that was quite an emotional moment.

“I should have filmed it or something, because I just signed it and then that was it. But it was a relief and then excitement.

“It’s those last 10, 11, 12 years of my life that I’ve been working so hard for this, all the sacrifices I’ve had to make, I feel like they’ve paid off by signing that piece of paper.”

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