KANNAPOLIS: British teenager Oliver Bearman is returning to Formula 1 ahead of schedule after the Haas team announced on Friday that he will replace the suspended Kevin Magnussen for next week's Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Bearman signed in July to race for Haas in 2025, but he will make an early appearance with his new team in Baku next week due to Magnussen serving a one-race suspension for accumulating too many penalty points.
The 19-year-old Bearman usually races in Formula 2 but was impressive when he finished in seventh place during his F1 debut for Ferrari at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in March, after Carlos Sainz Jr. was sidelined with appendicitis.
"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," Bearman said on Friday in a Haas statement.
Bearman, a Ferrari academy driver, is one of two reserve drivers at Haas this year. The other, Pietro Fittipaldi, competes in IndyCar, which has a race next week in Nashville.