Peter Johnson – Journalism

Haas have confirmed that reserve driver Oliver Bearman will step in for the suspended Kevin Magnussen at next weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Magnussen received a race ban after a collision with Pierre Gasly at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, which took him to 12 penalty points in the last year.

19-year-old Bearman was announced as part of Haas’ 2025 driver line-up back in July, having impressed when he deputised for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in Saudi Arabia earlier this season.

The young Briton stepped into the Spaniard’s car part-way through the weekend in Jeddah after Sainz was diagnosed with appendicitis on the Friday night. Bearman had already qualified on pole for the Formula 2 feature race that weekend, and adapted quickly to his Ferrari surroundings, qualifying 11th and bringing home six points in seventh place on race day.

He will now make his race debut with Haas alongside Nico Hulkenberg, ahead of his full-time role next season.

Bearman said: “It’s definitely more of a challenge stepping in to race as a reserve driver, with limited prep-time and so on, but I’m in the fortunate position of having done it earlier in the year with Scuderia Ferrari, so I can at least call on that experience.

“I’ve also had four FP1 sessions with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team in the VF-24 already this season, so undoubtedly that will also prove to be valuable in tackling the full race weekend in Baku. The team is in good form at the moment and I’ll do my best to be prepared with the time we have available. The aim is to get out there and have a solid weekend in Azerbaijan.”

Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu added: “[Ollie has] already shown great promise in his FP1 outings and post-season test, and he performed very well when he drove for Scuderia Ferrari in Saudi Arabia, picking up points in the process. This is another excellent opportunity for both Ollie and the team to work together, this time throughout an entire race weekend, and he couldn’t ask for better teammate than Nico to provide him with a reference.”

Following misdemeanours earlier this season in Saudi Arabia and China, as well as in both the sprint and Grand Prix in Miami, Magnussen became the first driver to receive a race ban for accumulated infringements since the system was introduced in 2014.

The last driver to receive a race ban for driving standards was the Dane’s former Haas teammate Romain Grosjean, who was sidelined for the 2012 Italian Grand Prix after causing an opening-lap pile-up at the previous weekend’s Belgian GP.

Magnussen will return to the grid for the following weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.

Image credit: Bcschneider53