Oliver Bearman will drive in place of Kevin Magnussen at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix; the British teenager will make his second race appearance after driving for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia earlier this year; Magnussen was banned for exceeding the sport's penalty-point limit
Friday 6 September 2024 16:07, UK
British teenager Oliver Bearman will drive for Haas at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in place of the banned Kevin Magnussen, the team have confirmed.
Magnussen was handed a one-race ban after picking up his 12th penalty point within a 12-month span at the Italian Grand Prix, having been adjudged to have caused a collision with Alpine's Pierre Gasly.
Bearman, 19, has already been signed by Haas for next season and, as one of the team's reserve drivers for this campaign, was the obvious choice to step up.
The race in Baku will be Bearman's second in F1, after he impressively deputised for Ferrari's Carlos Sainz at short notice at this year's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, finishing seventh.
As Haas confirmed the decision on Friday, 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 Ferrari, so I can at least call on that experience.
"I've also had four FP1 sessions with Haas 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."
In preparation for his rookie F1 campaign, Bearman has already featured in four practice sessions for Haas this season, adding to two from the previous year.
The Ferrari Academy driver is also contesting his second season in Formula 2, and claimed his second race victory of the season at Monza.
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu said: "I'm excited that Ollie will be driving the VF-24 alongside Nico in Baku. He's 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."
Magnussen becomes the first driver to fall foul of the 12 penalty-point limit ruling since it was introduced in 2014.
Romain Grosjean was the last driver to be banned for a race after causing a multi-car collision at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix.
The stewards deemed Magnussen was "wholly to blame" for causing contact with Gasly at Monza's second chicane and that the Dane did not drive in a "safe and controlled manner through the manoeuvre".
He received a 10-second time penalty, which knocked him down from ninth to 10th in the final classification, but more crucially the two penalty points that took him over the limit.
Magnussen had put himself in a dangerous position by quickly amassing penalty points at the start of the 2024 season.
He picked up three for causing a collision with Williams' Alex Albon in Saudi Arabia, then two more for a collision with RB's Yuki Tsunoda in China.
Magnussen then picked up five points in one weekend at the Miami Grand Prix, receiving three for leaving the track without justifiable reason when defending Lewis Hamilton in the Sprint, and then two more for a collision with Logan Sargeant in the full-distance race.
Formula 1 leaves mainland Europe for Baku and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on September 13-15, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership - No contract, cancel anytime
