Ollie Bearman has travelled fast under the radar since he made his starry debut in Saudi Arabia in 2024, a dazzling late replacement for the appendicitis-hit Carlos Sainz.
It meant jumping into the Ferrari at the 11th hour, a forbidding as well as an exhilarating thrill. The man-boy in question finished a marvellous seventh, hosannahs ringing all around him. ‘The Bear’, now 20, who has been sent to Haas, the Ferrari-powered team, to sculpt his craft.
He has at times driven brilliantly, at others understandably shown his youthfulness with the odd moment of rashness. All in all, though, he has pressed his case for a drive at Ferrari when Lewis Hamilton finally retires.
Last season, The Bear’s full debut year, he finished ahead of his once lauded team-mate Esteban Ocon, 41 points to 38. This season, he lies fifth in the standings.
He may improve on that, he may fall away; it is early days. But whatever is to come, his early prowess demonstrates an essential talent.
He was an under-sung hero of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, taking fifth place, having exercised quickfire survival action by going into the run-off area when Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar spun around him early on, calling himself ‘a deer in the headlights’. He then drove very well, passing others with elan.
Ollie Bearman has travelled fast under the radar since he made his starry debut in Saudi Arabia in 2024, a dazzling late replacement for the appendicitis-hit Carlos Sainz
He has at times driven brilliantly, at others with the odd moment of rashness. All in all, though, he has pressed his case for a drive at Ferrari when Lewis Hamilton retires
In a sense, the race winner Kimi Antonelli underscored his broader case for a top seat. The Italian is a protege of the Mercedes junior programme, a recruit from within done well. Bearman echoes this. He has been a Ferrari Academy driver since 2021. He is familiar with the team and its ways.
He took the landmark decision to detach himself from life at home with his mum and dad – and two dogs – leaving King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford to learn the ropes in Maranello. That shows commitment. And he has an Italian twang to his Essex lingo, with an accent almost beyond definition, to prove it.
Bearman has a long way to run in his formative years, offering time for his talent to be assessed properly, but, if Ferrari have any sense, Bearman should be in their plans. He is quietly showing them a future beyond Sir Lewis.
Whatever else, on his day, ‘The Bear’ is super fast, and that is a commodity beyond price.
Will these ‘painful’ rules force Max out of F1?
It would be grossly naive to think that Max Verstappen would not be a touch more sanguine about the new regulations if his Red Bull were the leading car.
It is not and he is fuming. ‘Joke, painful, terrible, regulations to bite the sport in the a***.’ So he’s not keen on the ‘brave’ new world, then.
But I must say that even given this caveat concerning his own predicament, the new half-electric cars with their gimmicky power-harvesting and boost distortions are not Verstappen’s gravy.
He is a pure racer, old school, a custodian of old verities he believes in. And, I mean this in a good way, he is an uncomplicated Dutchman, a meat and two veg man. No frills to see.
The new half-electric cars with their gimmicky power-harvesting and boost distortions are not Max Verstappen’s gravy
F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali believes that Max will stay in Formula One and see out his contract which runs until the end of 2028, because he is dedicated to it.
Again, I accept Domenicali’s reasoning, but with other series offering Verstappen the raw racing experience he lives for, his bonds to F1 are being sorely tested.
Shimmering Shanghai
I am not to be confused as a member of the Shanghai Tourist Board, but one remarkable transformation that struck me the other day as the sun was shining here was that you could see a cobalt blue sky.
When I first came to the metropolis 20 years ago, you looked up at dishcloth grey soup. Smog spoiled the nicest of weather back then. Now the air is a lot cleaner.
The roads, once among the most chaotic I ever saw (and I have been in tuk tuks in Delhi) are a lot safer, more ordered. The buildings, old and grand or tall and new, are lit up at night. It’s an impressive vista. That is my update on the state of Shanghai.
One remarkable transformation that struck me the other day as the sun was shining here in Shanghai was that you could see a cobalt blue sky
Button’s uncommon generosity
In the old days, when Fleet Street expenses ran more freely, our favourite Shanghai eaterie was M on the Bund. It was an annual pilgrimage, not far from the Peace Hotel, where Noel Coward wrote Private Lives while recovering from flu.
It was also the venue Jenson Button booked out, very generously spending his own money, to host his yearly journalists’ dinner. He maintained this tradition of hospitality until the end of his career. A Fogo de Chao restaurant in Sao Paulo was another favourite destination.
His late father John, his most loyal mate of all, was always in attendance. No driver lays on such largesse these days for the Fourth Estate. I am sure your heart bleeds for us hungry scribblers.
Eddie’s eye for a bargain
Can it really be a year since sad news of Eddie Jordan’s death reached us in the China GP media centre? It is. It brought to mind a story that revealed his eye for a bargain, his sense of brokering a good deal.
The market in Shanghai is replete with knock-off Swiss watches. You barter and if you are shrewd you ask for products in cupboards from the back of the stalls, not the stuff on display at the front. Or so I was advised.
Jordan was at dinner one night when someone told him about this market. This irrepressible rascal got up from the table. An hour later, he was back clutching a bag. He had bought a load of ‘Rolexes’, and handed them out to his mates.
Can it really be a year since sad news of Eddie Jordan’s death reached us in the China GP media centre?
Did McLaren take their eye off the ball?
McLaren have been a wonderful, championships-winning story these past few years under the dynamic leadership of Zak Brown and the methodical excellence of Andrea Stella.
But neither of their cars started Sunday’s race, grounded through technical issues.
Although they halted development of their car moderately early last year, did their quest for the world drivers’ title, won by Lando Norris, not divert attention in 2025 while, say, Mercedes, with nothing to fight for, could throw all their eggs into the 2026 basket?
It is the sort of distraction they will deny now, but own up to later.
A riddle resolved
Is Lewis Hamilton’s mother called Carmen or Brenda, a colleague questioned the other day when my copy landed on the sports desk in London.
Hamilton embraces his mother after securing his first podium in Ferrari red on Sunday
Both work, I explained. Some call her Carmen; others Brenda.
Once in Maranello, when Lewis took to his Ferrari for the first time last year, I asked her which moniker she preferred. ‘Brenda,’ she told me at the bar of our hotel. So Brenda is what she is known as in the pages of Daily Mail Sport.
She is a nice lady. Or ‘the best of me,’ as Lewis once said.
