Revealed: How Oliver Bearman can ‘write the history books’ in Azerbaijan GP

If Oliver Bearman can make his way into the points in Baku, he could be set to “write the history books a little bit”, in his own way.

Having made his Formula 1 debut as a stand-in for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari in Saudi Arabia, Bearman is standing in for the banned Kevin Magnussen at Haas in Azerbaijan this weekend.

How Oliver Bearman could ‘write the history books’ with Azerbaijan GP points finish

Having already joined a rare club of drivers to have scored points on his Formula 1 debut, Bearman could reach a unique distinction of his own if he is able to convert his P11 starting place into a top-10 finish in Azerbaijan – by becoming potentially the first driver ever to score points on each of his first two starts, but by doing so for two different teams.

When that potential statistic was put to him after qualifying in Baku, Bearman replied: “That’s an interesting stat, right?

“Maybe I can write the history books a little bit, but I’ll be aiming for the points tomorrow – that’s for sure.”

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The Ferrari junior, who is joining Haas on a full-time basis next season to partner Esteban Ocon, had been left frustrated at not making it through to Q3 on Saturday, believing there to be enough pace within his car to qualify within the top 10.

He was self-critical of his performance after the session, believing that had he not crashed in FP3 earlier in the day, he would have given himself a fighting chance of getting into the top-1o shootout in qualifying.

“I’m annoyed just because it’s bad to damage the car, I gave the guys a huge job between runs,” he explained.

“You know, they finished the car five minutes before we went out. So first of all, I need a huge shoutout to them, because they work tirelessly.

“This is where they make their money. I’m a bit disappointed, just because I feel like I could have been in Q3 if I had got those extra two soft tyre runs in FP3, because at this stage of my career, that’s super valuable.”

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