Bearman-Bortoleto, from an iRacing crash to friendship: “We hated each other without ever talking. Then in F2…”
Rising rookies
Among the rookies making headlines in this 2025 Formula 1 season are Oliver Bearman and Gabriel Bortoleto. Driving for Haas and Sauber – two teams not exactly fighting at the very front – both drivers are still managing to impress in their first full year in the sport. They are also extremely close in the Drivers’ standings, separated by just a couple of points, with the Brazilian currently holding the slight advantage.
The Englishman, who came through the Ferrari Driver Academy, recently described Gabriel Bortoleto as his best friend on the F1 grid during an interview with the official Formula 1 website. The same feeling was echoed by the Brazilian driver himself when speaking to F1.com. However, the relationship between the two has not always been so positive – in fact, it started out quite differently.
From rivals to friends
Oliver Bearman revealed in an episode of the video-podcast Quadcast that his connection with the Brazilian was far from smooth at the beginning. In fact, the two drivers originally disliked each other, even before they had ever met in person. The story dates back to the Covid period, when online racing on iRacing was booming. “I remember he was racing in F4 and I was in my first year in that championship, so he was winning races and I wasn’t. Then later we met again on iRacing,” Oliver Bearman recalled.
“We had a huge crash together at Silverstone, racing on iRacing. I think it was during lockdown – we were both pushing flat-out in those races – and after that incident we hated each other for a while, even though we had never met face to face,” the current Haas driver added. “We’d only had that one crash on iRacing, but we wouldn’t look at each other. We didn’t even speak until last year in Formula 2, when we both realized we weren’t so bad after all, and that’s when we became friends.”
Leave a Reply