Oliver Bearman will return to drive for Haas in place of Kevin Magnussen on Friday at Interlagos, Haas have confirmed.
Magnussen, who participated in media activities at the track yesterday, is “suffering with sickness”, according to the team.Bearman is the team’s reserve driver and will join their full-time line-up next year. He also races in Formula 2 for Prema.
He has already raced in two grands prix this season. Bearman made his debut at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in March, driving for Ferrari in place of Carlos Sainz Jnr.
Bearman then drove for Haas in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku in September, taking over from Magnussen as he served a one-race ban. The teenager impressed on both occasions, scoring points with seventh place on his debut and 10th in Baku.
He has also driven the VF-24 in Friday practice session at Imola, Barcelona, Silverstone and Hungary. He was in action in last weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix as well, driving Ferrari’s SF-24 in Friday practice.
As this is a sprint race weekend, Bearman will take part in a single hour of practice and then qualifying for tomorrow’s first race. Haas is yet to confirm who will drive tomorrow. “The team wishes Kevin a quick recovery and will provide a further update in due course,” it said in a statement.
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F1 revised its rules on driver changes during race weekends this year when it made its most recent alterations to the sprint event format.
As Bearman will take part in the sprint race qualifying session, he will also take part in the sprint race. F1’s rules state that the driver who participates in Sunday’s grand prix must take part in Saturday’s qualifying session, leaving open the possibility for Magnussen to return this weekend.
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chimaera2003 (@chimaera2003)
1st November 2024, 13:12
Surely that would mean that Bearman would have to do the Sprint Race as well if he has done the qualifying for it? You can’t have one driver qualify and the other one race surely.
Jonathan Parkin
1st November 2024, 13:20
I think Ollie will do the Sprint Session and if Kevin Magnussen is well enough to take part in qualifying for the GP and then the GP itself.
If he isn’t well enough for qualifying Ollie will do it and the subsequent race
If Kevin does take part in the race that will muck the stats up a bit though
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
1st November 2024, 13:22
<emAs Bearman will take part in the sprint race qualifying session, he will also take part in the sprint race
I guess it was only a matter of time before something like this happened, adding a further complication to an already convoluted format.
anon
1st November 2024, 14:29
@bernasaurus it’s no different to what would happen during a standard race weekend either, where you are also not allowed to change the driver between qualifying and the race.
You just have to look to the 2009 Japanese GP for an example of that, where Glock injured himself when he crashed during Q2. Toyota asked if it would be possible to replace Glock with Kobayashi and were instructed by the FIA that they were not allowed to substitute their driver after qualifying (hence why they withdrew Glock’s car from the race).
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
1st November 2024, 13:36
Considering the sprint format, even if Kev is fine tomorrow, wouldn’t it make more sense for Ollie to do the whole.weekend? I mean, if Ollie does FP1, SQ and the sprint that’d leave Kevin to go straight to qualifying without a single lap of preparation.
Jere (@jerejj)
1st November 2024, 13:58
A surprising turn of events, even if only for each pre-qualifying session for the time being.
Hopefully, nothing major, & I think driving only in practice is also enough for race participation, just like with the standard format when any session is enough, so practice & standard qualifying with the sprint format.
MacLeod (@macleod)
1st November 2024, 14:11
If he does more then FP1 then expect Bearman the whole grandprix in the car.
SteveP
1st November 2024, 14:15
I wonder if he can beat himself for WDC points ?
dot_com (@dot_com)
1st November 2024, 16:34
It really wouldn’t make sense for Kevin to jump straight into qualifying tomorrow with no running whatsoever. Especially if he’s been unwell. They may as well just run Ollie the whole weekend.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
1st November 2024, 18:07
If he gets to race on Sunday, he will score points. He always does.