Bearman says he has ‘high hopes’ for the rest of the season after P4 in Monte Carlo

Oliver Bearman was pleased to achieve his best result of the 2024 season last weekend, as the PREMA Racing driver came through the field to finish fourth in the Monte Carlo Feature Race.

The Briton started in P12 with strong pace, impressive overtakes and good strategy he made his way up the order, narrowly missing out on a podium after a late Virtual Safety Car allowed winner Zak O’Sullivan to overcut him.

But as he reflected on the weekend as a whole, Bearman was pleased with how things ended, especially with how it started.

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“I was pleased with how Monaco went on Sunday, apart from that it was a tough weekend,” said Bearman. “I missed one lap in Qualifying and since we only have three and the step that you make in driving and the step the track makes in performance, by missing a lap I was at the back of my group.

“So, it was a tough Sprint Race, it was really tough to do anything strategy wise without a pitstop so Saturday was a bit of a boring one but on Sunday we managed to make a difference with the alternative strategy.

“We used the pace that we had and that was really nice to do, to finally bring a decent result because talking about the season so far nothing has really gone to plan. The first four rounds have been quite difficult for a number of reasons.

“We have showed a lot of potential, even in Imola I was leading in the Feature Race before it went wrong, Australia I had an issue in Qualifying and of course Jeddah never happened, so it's been a bit of a strange start to the year. But hopefully now with the European season I can find some consistency and start to bring back some solid points.”

Looking at the strategy he used on Sunday, Bearman was one of several drivers, including Gabriel Bortoleto and Zane Maloney, who chose to start on the Supersoft tyre before ending on the Softs.

He was able to make the strategy work for him especially after his fast start. By the end of Lap 1 he had gained five places and was up to P7, even diving up the inside of MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger at Mirabeau.

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“I started on the alternate strategy for Monaco because usually you try to go quite deep in the race to mitigate a VSC or Safety Cars,” he explained. “So, I decided to risk it because if there is a Safety Car in the middle of the race, I would have been in trouble.

“Luckily, there wasn't so I managed to basically find some clear track which was the main goal of the strategy, because we knew we had a lot of pace but when you are stuck behind someone you can't show it.

“So basically, I was trying to save the Supersoft to go as long as possible until the team could find me a space to pit into and once we did, I got in and just did maximum pace for those next three laps. Then I managed to undercut quite a few people, just by having these laps in clean air.

“It really helped the situation although I did have to do some overtakes on track which is never easy but with the strategy it's tough not to, especially on a track like this.”

This was just Bearman’s third point scoring results of the season – after his P9 in the Melbourne Feature Race and P5 in the Imola Sprint – but he does not believe this tells the full story of their season.

He acknowledges that he and PREMA have suffered from misfortune but is confident that they can start fighting consistently at the front of the field for the rest of the season.

“We finally got a decent result to show for it, but the mood has been pretty high throughout because the pace has always been there,” he continued. “In Australia I was going for the front row again until I had an issue.

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“In Imola, I was having a good race, so there have been a few little mistakes which have taken away some potential for good results, those need ironing out. I think we showed in Monaco that even with a bad quali at a track like Monaco we can still make something happen, so I have high hopes.

“It's still a long Championship in front of us and at tracks we know, tracks that we were successful at last year for example so I have no reason in my mind why we can't be fighting at the front for the rest of the year.

“That's my main goal to prove what I am capable of and of course ultimately to prove that I have what it takes to be in F1.”