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Ollie Bearman will complete the full Brazilian Grand Prix weekend in place of the unwell Kevin Magnussen at Haas, having already proved why the team is so excited to get him full-time in 2025.
Interlagos has become part three of Bearman's surprisingly prolific reserve driver season.
He excelled on his shock Ferrari debut in Saudi Arabia, scored a point when he stepped in for the banned Kevin Magnussen in Azerbaijan, and has outqualified Nico Hulkenberg for the sprint portion of the Brazil weekend after replacing an unwell Magnussen for a second time.
Bearman got the call early on Friday that Magnussen, who had been ill the previous day, was in no condition to drive. That initially put Bearman - whose most recent F1 outing was a short-lived Ferrari FP1 appearance in Mexico last week - in the car for at least practice, sprint qualifying, and Saturday's sprint race.
In making the top 10 shootout on Friday, having gone three tenths quicker than Hulkenberg in SQ2, Bearman has made a potentially very tricky Haas situation quite easy to handle. He will remain in the car for the rest of the weekend as there is no need to force the issue with Magnussen, who is understood to have a nausea-related illness.
Magnussen has been in good form the last couple of events, and has a good record around this track, but even if he feels better on Saturday a potentially less-than-100% Magnussen with no track time is unlikely to do better than a dialled-in Bearman. The evidence of Friday supports that.
In Bearman, Haas knows it has every chance of scoring points with this car regardless of whether its regular driver is available. That speaks volumes for Haas's faith in him but also the level its 2025 driver is already performing at, and shows why Haas is so eagerly anticipating next year.
Replacing Magnussen and doing a good job is impressive, but in isolation it's also to be expected. Haas rates Bearman more highly, that's why it was on course to sign him even before Hulkenberg's Audi move was a done deal - so Magnussen was the one set to make way.
Really, it's the performance versus Hulkenberg that stands out. Bearman outqualified him in Azerbaijan and pipped him to the final point late on. He looks faster in Brazil already and should be aiming to continue his 100% point-scoring record in F1 as a result. He might do that immediately in the sprint race.
Bearman did not string it together when it mattered in SQ3, as he made a small but costly mistake running wide at Turn 2 that left him 10th with a deleted laptime.
But Haas defended him afterwards, claiming an issue with its tyre temperature control box meant Bearman's tyres were not ready for the start of the lap - so it "was not his fault". The implication is the grip should have been there for what Bearman was asking of the car, but it wasn't.
It’s a real 'what might have been' for Bearman, who clearly had the pace to be starting the sprint race inside the points positions already. Even if he'd only matched the average step in sector one that the other nine drivers made from SQ2 to SQ3, Bearman could have been sixth on the grid - ahead of Mercedes driver George Russell.
He was rightly disappointed he didn't produce that but, giving Haas the benefit of the doubt, there are mitigating circumstances. And this is still a performance worthy of any full-time driver, let alone a super-sub.
Now his job is to convert this early promise at Interlagos into a result of the same quality.
