Ollie Bearman has conceded that joining Ferrari remains his “target” in the long-term as he shared his thoughts on the news that Charles Leclerc has agreed a new multi-year deal with the team.
It was announced in the days prior to the Monaco Grand Prix that Leclerc – who has driven for the Scuderia since 2019, after joining as a member of their Driver Academy in 2016 – has renewed his agreement with the Italian outfit, meaning that he will continue to race in red for “the coming seasons”.
Like Leclerc, Bearman was also signed up to the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2022, and the Briton memorably made his F1 debut for the team at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as a substitute for an unwell Carlos Sainz, going on to score points with a P7 finish.
Bearman then joined Haas full-time in 2025 and is now competing in his sophomore season for the squad. The 21-year-old has enjoyed a strong start to the campaign, leading to boss Ayao Komatsu insisting that there is “no point worrying” about the possibility of losing the young driver to Ferrari.
When asked during Thursday’s media day in Monaco about the idea of being in the ‘line of succession’ at the Scuderia – and how it felt to see Leclerc sign a new deal – Bearman responded: “First of all, it’s really cool to see Charles renewing.
“He’s been there a long time and had a lot of success there, and obviously very hungry for more. I don’t know about you guys, but I only see Charles in red and it’s really nice to see him renewing, especially before his home race – it must be very nice.
“Of course, that’s my target one day [to join Ferrari], but at the moment I’m focused on my job here at Haas and also enjoying it.”
Pushed on whether Ferrari had contacted him before announcing Leclerc’s contract extension, Bearman added: “No, that’s nothing to do with me. It’s his own thing, and I’m very happy to see Charles renewing.
“It’s very cool and a good place to announce it at home. On my side, my focus remains the same. I’m continuing with Haas, enjoying very much the journey and learning a hell of a lot. There’s no question or doubt, just continuing to learn and improve.”
While Bearman’s start to the year has caught the eye, it was not necessarily the smoothest of weekends for Haas last time out in Canada, where the Briton scored the final point on offer in P10 but commented afterwards: “I don’t know if we deserved points today based on our performance.”
Reflecting further on the lessons learned from that event ahead of Round 6 in Monte Carlo, Bearman explained: “Canada was tough. We were coming into the weekend expecting a nice step with the upgrade that we had.
“In the end we saw the step we were expecting, but probably the characteristics of the car became a bit more challenging. We’ve needed a lot of laps to understand it and that’s what we had in Canada. On top of that, we managed to have a good result at the end so I’m quite happy with that.
“However, we’ve had this week off now to really understand it and understand what situations the car likes, what window we need to put it in, and hopefully this weekend we can have a more performative car.”
In terms of whether the team could be strong during the weekend ahead, Bearman answered: “I hope so. Our biggest issue has been on straight-line speed. On this circuit, that shouldn’t really play against us too much, which should mean we’re going to be a bit more competitive.
“We know this race is tough – it’s all about Qualifying, the race itself is not the main show, let’s say. So we’re going to be focusing as much as possible to have a good Saturday and I’ll do my best.”
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