When Ollie Bearman first started out in go-karts at the age of 6, Sebastian Vettel was dominating Formula One. The combination of Vettel's success -- which included four consecutive titles from 2010 to 2013 -- and his surprise move in 2015 to F1's most famous team, Ferrari, made an impression on the young driver.
"I grew up watching Vettel dominate," Bearman told ESPN after the 18-year-old Ferrari reserve driver's remarkable F1 debut at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. "I was a big fan of him, especially in his later years when he was at Ferrari."
It was somewhat surreal, therefore, when Bearman found himself standing in for Carlos Sainz -- the man who replaced Vettel at Ferrari in 2021 -- in Jeddah. Sainz had been diagnosed with appendicitis on the morning of qualifying, meaning Bearman had just one practice session to get up to speed before putting everything on the line in an attempt to qualify as high up the grid as possible for the 50-lap race.
Remarkably, he secured an 11th-place starting position, just 0.036 seconds off a place in the top ten, meaning he would line up on the grid within striking distance of points on his F1 debut. It would be by far the biggest race of young career.
With the pressure and hype building ahead of the start, Bearman's phone buzzed with a text message. It was from Vettel.
- Watch Formula One on ESPN networks all season long
"He sent me a message before the race, saying good luck and enjoy it," Bearman recalled. "I think the main point was just to enjoy it, because it was a very stressful situation, and I think he and other people helped me to take a step back and look at what a great opportunity it was and not to get flustered by it.
"He said he was sending me hugs, and I replied saying I was a big fan. I was a bit of a fanboy there!"
What followed has been well documented. Bearman improved with every lap of the race, moving his way up to seventh place and then lapping within a respectable margin of teammate Charles Leclerc in the latter stages.
"I watched the race back five or six times, just watching every moment," Bearman said. "It was such a great experience."
His strong showing has strengthened his claim to a potential drive with F1 back markers Haas next year, especially if he lives up to expectations in Formula 2 this season and challenges for the title of the feeder series. As much as the race in Saudi Arabia marked a starting point for his F1 career, though, it also represented the realisation of a dream that first took shape 12 years ago at the Buckmore Park go-kart track in Kent, United Kingdom.
"The first time I went karting I was six years old," Bearman recalled. "I say karting, I was literally just learning which pedal did what and how to start and stop, so it was pretty basic.
"After that, I got a go-kart for Christmas -- so credit to Santa -- and I used to just go on Wednesdays and Saturdays to a local track with my father, and it was just good fun. Eventually it got a little bit more serious and we would go for the race weekends and we soon found ourselves at the British championships.
"I think, of course, even then I wanted to be an F1 driver, but everybody says that in karting."
Bearman's desire to go racing came from his father, David, who made his money in insurance but also dabbled in motorsport, along with his own father, when Ollie was just a boy.
"It was not at a very high level, just with little sports cars," Ollie said of the racing careers of the two previous generations of Bearmans. "They used to race each other in the U.K., but they were very busy and of course it's an expensive sport, so they weren't able to take it professionally but just as a hobby.
"That's really how my interest in racing came from. I remember going to watch them as a kid and the smell of the rubber, the fuel, I fell in love straight away."
It became clear fairly early on his karting career that Bearman junior could go a step further than his father and make serious progress up the single-seater ladder. After success at European and international karting events, he made the step up to Formula 4 and competed in the German and Italian championships in 2020 before winning both at his second attempt in 2021.
The Italian motorsport federation took notice of his success and put him forward to take part in the Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA) Scouting World Finals at Maranello in October 2021. The process, which took into account mental and physical aptitude as well as driving talent, put him head-to-head against four other hopefuls for a permanent spot in the FDA and a Ferrari-backed route to Formula One.
Bearman excelled in the tryouts, and at the age of 16 -- just a few months after sitting his GCSE exams at King Edward VI Grammar School in his hometown of Chelmsford -- was signed up by the FDA and told to move to Maranello. The life-changing moment meant he would forgo higher education in the form of A-levels and a university degree so he could focus solely on racing.
"My mother especially was really against me leaving education, especially in the early years," Bearman said. "Once we got closer to the time I actually left, it became clearer and clearer that this was actually a viable option. But I'm sure my mum will be sad forever that I didn't go to university, because I went to a grammar school, quite a smart school, and I got good grades!
"I'm sure that's a regret of hers, but after my GCSEs it became clear that I had one opportunity to make it in racing, and you either go all in on that or you go half-hearted and you combine school and racing, and I wasn't prepared to miss this opportunity.
"At the worst case, I can always go back to school. I don't get another shot at this. I was all in since 2021 when I finished my GCSEs and so far it's been the right decision, and I hope it will continue to be."
Bearman excelled in languages at school, getting the highest possible grade in GCSE German while also learning Latin, which was still on the curriculum at his 473-year-old grammar school. He made the move to Maranello in January 2022 and quickly turned his ear to learning Italian to communicate more effectively with the mechanics from Ferrari and his Italian-based F2 team, Prema.
"I speak Italian quite well," he said. "I had a lot of languages as a baseline from school, so I had a brain for learning languages, and over the years I have had a lot of free time in Italy and I dedicated it to trying to learn.
"A lot of the mechanics in Prema and Ferrari are Italian, and when I communicated with them in my first year, it was difficult, but now I am learning. I'm happy that I have managed to speak a bit, and it's a passion of mine. I hope that one day I am completely fluent."
Max Verstappen and Oliver Bearman speak after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
In his first full year in the FDA, he finished third in F3 before making the jump to F2 last season. He won four races in his debut F2 campaign, including sprint and feature race victories on the streets of Baku, leaving him sixth in the championship at the end of 2023 and a hot favourite for this year's title.
At Prema in 2024, he has been paired with Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who has also been linked with a move to F1 next year as a possible replacement for Lewis Hamilton when the seven-time champion leaves Mercedes for Ferrari. The season got off to a shaky start for both drivers when Prema struggled to understand the latest generation of F2 car at the opening round in Bahrain, but before getting his F1 callup with Ferrari in Jeddah, Bearman put his F2 car on pole position.
After his impressive F1 debut (which, oddly enough, means he now has six points in F1 and none in F2), an F2 title no longer feels like a prerequisite for Bearman to make the step up in 2025. That hasn't dampened his desire to secure the title and cement his claim to a drive in the top flight beyond doubt, though.
"I already have a great feeling in F2 this year and I feel like we know where we went wrong in Bahrain because we managed to jump back from the bottom of the grid to the top [in qualifying in Jeddah]," he said. "Of course, I'm last in the championship and I missed out on a victory and good points in Jeddah, but the opportunity like this was too good to miss and I would do the same in a heartbeat.
"Now my full focus is on F2, I have a few less races to get the points, but I have no doubt I can do it if we can have the same level of competition that we did in Jeddah."
As a member of the FDA, Bearman has the support of one of the biggest teams in motorsport, including regular access to Ferrari's state-of-the-art simulator for both F1 and F2 preparation. After his F1 debut in Saudi Arabia, though, he also has something extra special that none of his F2 rivals can match. It could be the difference in what is expected to be a very close championship battle.
"I feel like I've got my foot in the door in the F1 world after Jeddah," Bearman said. "I'm a bit more well known than I was, which is great, and I feel like having been in an F1 weekend, I know what I'm missing out on. It's a great motivator for the future, and hopefully it pushes me to drive even faster on track and hopefully one day have a chance of getting that full time."