BREAKING: Ollie Bearman Replaces Magnussen in Azerbaijan

Kevin Magnussen will miss the upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix due to a race ban resulting from accumulating 12 penalty points on his Super Licence. It has been announced that Ollie Bearman, will replace the Dane for the Azerbaijan race, giving Bearman the opportunity to have raced for both Ferrari and Haas as a replacement driver this season. Magnussen was penalized for a collision with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly during the Italian Grand Prix, deemed by the stewards to be entirely his fault.

With Ollie Bearman set to become a full-time Haas driver alongside Esteban Ocon in 2025, the team decided to give him a taste of F1 action early. Bearman, who is currently competing in Formula 2 and serving as a reserve driver for both Haas and Ferrari, was chosen to replace Magnussen for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. This opportunity will allow Bearman to get acquainted with the team and the intricacies of Formula 1 ahead of his full-time debut in Australia next season.

Ollie Bearman, who has already secured two victories in Formula 2 this season but trails the championship leader by a significant margin with just three races remaining, will unfortunately miss the upcoming Formula 2 Sprint and Feature races in Baku. This decision was made to allow Bearman to focus on his upcoming Formula 1 debut with Haas in Azerbaijan.

Despite missing the Baku races, Bearman’s impressive performance earlier this year, when he stood in for Carlos Sainz at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and scored points with a seventh-place finish, has further solidified his reputation as a rising star in motorsport.

This extra exposure to Formula 1 machinery will be instrumental in his preparation for his upcoming full season debut in 2025.

Magnussen, on the other hand, will be eligible to return to the Haas cockpit for the Singapore Grand Prix. With his Super Licence penalty points now cleared, he is expected to compete in the remaining seven races of the 2024 season.

Ollie Bearman Thoughts on Haas Drive

“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,” said Bearman.

“I’ve also had four FP1 sessions with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team 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.”

Team Principal Ayao Komatsu

Team Principal Ayao Komatsu added: “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.”