Bearman aiming for rebound at 'favourite circuit' in Jeddah

6 March 2024

Round 1 in Sakhir was definitely not what PREMA Racing and Oliver Bearman had hoped for going into the 2024 campaign. The team struggled to P17 and P18 in Qualifying and scored just one point across the remainder of the weekend, courtesy of Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s P10 in the Feature Race.

Almost a full week on, Bearman has his sights on a reset and making the most of his experience around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. The fastest street track on the calendar tests drivers like no other, and that is something the Scuderia Ferrari Academy talent loves.

“It was a really difficult first round, there’s no denying that. We really struggled for pace and didn’t manage to bring home any meaningful results, but I’m feeling confident heading into Jeddah.

“Last year we also struggled in Bahrain, but Jeddah seems like a track that’s a little bit more suited to us. The performance last year was really good so I’m feeling confident and looking forward to getting out on track because it’s one of my favourites.”

Reflecting further on the opening race weekend of the season, Bearman was honest in his assessment that the team had been lacking pace in all situations.

The Briton also noted that they were still delving into the true root of their problems. As was the case last season, Sakhir would turn out to be a blip rather than a benchmark of true performance, something Bearman hopes will turn out to be true once more.

“We were just lacking pace in all conditions, all types of performance areas. Whatever we did, it didn’t seem to work. It was really tough to understand why and we’re still trying to understand that which will be important for the upcoming tracks that are similar to Bahrain. So, we still have work to do to fully understand it, but hopefully it’s just a one off.

Bearman is very much hoping that Bahrain was a one off in terms of performance for PREMA

“I think it’s partly the track roughness that doesn’t really suit our car. Compared to Bahrain, Jeddah is a bit more typical, a very smooth track and very high grip as well, which in theory, will suit us.

“It’s a high-speed track as well which in the past has been positive for us but then again, with the new car, we’re not sure if we can keep that trend up. But it seems the characteristics of Bahrain don’t match up very well with our car.

“That was the case last year and it’s been difficult to understand why. If we did, then I don’t think we’d have struggled like we did. I have every confidence that we can be back at the front here in Jeddah.”

Turning his attentions onto the weekend ahead of him, the PREMA driver says he can’t wait to get out onto the circuit. Bearman ranks the Jeddah Corniche Circuit amongst his favourites of the season and one of the true tests on the F2 calendar, with Qualifying being one of the highlights of the weekend thanks to how close the walls are at all times.

“I think it’s the adrenaline with it being such a high speed track, the walls being close. It’s a really well-designed track. It’s good for racing but for a Qualifying lap, it’s just amazing. To put everything together - the precision you need, and the adrenaline rush is just incredible. It’s a pleasure to drive this track.”

Like he himself achieved last season in Baku, Zane Maloney of Rodin Motorsport ticked off the fabled double thanks to a Sprint and Feature Race victory.

With PREMA on the back foot in Bahrain, the Ferrari junior is reluctant to predict where the team and their rivals might be in the pecking order this time around, adding that the focus was very much inward at this early stage of the campaign.

The Ferrari Reserve Driver is hopeful that the team will suit the fast Jeddah circuit

“It’s too early to say after one race, we’re not sure if that’s going to be a trend or just a one-off, we’re obviously hoping for the latter. But we can also say the same for us. Hopefully the lack of performance we had there was a one off, and we can be back to the performance levels of last year.

“I hope we are able to challenge them but the goal at the moment is to focus on ourselves and trying to improve. Once we’ve done that, then we can start to focus on the others.”

While Bearman would sorely love to write Bahrain out of everyone’s memory with a race win, he admits that expectations have changed following Round 1. He entered the season hoping to capitalise on expected strong form in Jeddah, having competed for victory as a rookie in 2023.

Now, he is more focused on recovering the lost points of Sakhir before assessing where he and PREMA Racing truly rank in 2024.

“Before we’d driven, my goal was to win on this track, considering the great performance I had last year. I had every confidence I’d be able to do that. Now it’s a reset of expectations after Bahrain.

“I think we just need to be up there in the top five, that would constitute a good weekend and to have the feeling I had with the car I had last year, to have that back is the main priority for me. Then we can refocus and start to aim higher once we have everything together. It’s going to be a really interesting weekend to see where we stand.”