Oliver Bearman confirmed to race for the full Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend amid Kevin Magnussen sickness

Credit: Rudy Carrezzevoli

British driver Oliver Bearman will compete for the full length of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend in place of the sidelined Kevin Magnussen at Haas, the team confirmed late on Friday.

Bearman earlier that day was announced to be taking over the sprint side of the weekend as Haas F1 confirmed that Magnussen had been suffering from sickness and was too unwell to compete for the first part of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend.

Following on from sprint qualifying on Friday, which completed the track action for that day, Bearman was confirmed to be taking part for the full weekend as well as the sprint race, which would mean he would take place in the actual Grand Prix itself.

Bearman, 18, has already competed in two Formula 1 Grand Prix in his career and both have come in the 2024 season, All the way back in March, Bearman made his debut in a very last-minute decision as Carlos Sainz fell ill to appendicitis following the conclusion of free practice on the Thursday action of that round.

The Brit has also made his Haas racing debut in 2024 as he replaced Magnussen at the Baku City Circuit for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as Magnussen had to serve a race ban for accumulating the maximum 12 penalty points over a 12-month period.

Bearman has certainly impressed in both of the previous weekends and his time with Haas is seemingly more important as he is confirmed as one of their drivers for the 2025 season. He has scored points in both of his Formula 1 Grand Prix he has participated in so far.

After a good Friday where he finished an impressive third in free pracice and qualified 10 for the sprint, which out-qualified his Haas teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who is notoriously known for having a good ability when it comes to qualifying.

In a statement, which confirmed Bearman  participating for the full weekend, Haas said: "Following Ollie stepping into the VF-24 for today's session due to Kevin's sickness, we csn confirm that the British driver will now complete the full Brazilian GP weekend with the team.

"We wish Kevin a full and speedy recovery."

Bearman will continue competing in the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend as he will first take to the track on Saturday for the sprint race, where he will start 10th on the grid following his progression to SQ3.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal