Oliver Bearman is taking encouragement rather than frustration from Kimi Antonelli’s remarkable 2026 Formula 1 campaign. With his former Prema team-mate leading the World Championship for Mercedes, the Haas driver believes the success of Andrea Kimi Antonelli — and fellow young rival Isack Hadjar — provides evidence that he too has what it takes to win races when he eventually has a competitive enough car.
Few would probably have predicted at the beginning of the year that Formula 1 would reach the summer break with Andrea Kimi Antonelli as the outright championship leader. The young Italian Mercedes talent has dominated much of the opening half of the campaign, winning six of the first 11 Grands Prix and reaching the halfway point 50 points ahead of his closest championship challenger, Lewis Hamilton.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli also holds a 59-point advantage over Mercedes team-mate George Russell, who had been widely expected before the season to be one of the strongest contenders for the 2026 title. The scale of Antonelli’s success has inevitably attracted attention from drivers who raced against him on the way to Formula 1, including Oliver Bearman.
Oliver Bearman encouraged by Kimi Antonelli’s success
Oliver Bearman spent a season alongside Andrea Kimi Antonelli at Prema in Formula 2. At the time, one was the highly rated Mercedes prospect and the other belonged to Ferrari’s young-driver programme, creating what Bearman remembers as an amusing contrast between their nationalities and Formula 1 affiliations.
“Yes, it was quite funny,” Oliver Bearman recalled during an interview on Formula 1’s official Beyond The Grid podcast. “Actually, talking with Kimi, we used to say that when we raced in F2 I was the Brit with an Italian team and he was the Italian with a British team, in the sense that, obviously, the Mercedes F1 team is based in the UK.”
Their paths have subsequently developed very differently. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was promoted directly into the Mercedes seat vacated when Lewis Hamilton moved to Ferrari, while Oliver Bearman followed a more conventional route into Formula 1 by joining Haas.
Hamilton’s switch therefore had a significant impact on the short-term careers of both young drivers. Andrea Kimi Antonelli received the opportunity to compete immediately at the front with Mercedes, while Oliver Bearman began his full-time Formula 1 career with a midfield team and a very different set of competitive expectations.
Bearman sees motivation rather than envy in Antonelli’s title charge
Despite the contrast between their current situations, Oliver Bearman does not appear envious of what his former team-mate has achieved. Instead, Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s championship-leading form seems to have strengthened his own belief that he can succeed at the highest level.
The same applies to Isack Hadjar. Oliver Bearman raced against both drivers throughout the junior categories and believes their performances in competitive Formula 1 machinery offer a useful reference point for his own potential.
“I have a lot of confidence from that point of view,” Oliver Bearman explained, “and that’s probably why I can sleep peacefully knowing that Kimi and also Isack [Hadjar] are guys who are achieving incredible results with equally fast cars.”
“That shows me that I have what it takes, because I raced against them throughout my career in the junior categories and I always achieved positive results. So that tells me it’s only a matter of time. I’m not in a rush, but when I have the car that can win races, I’ll win races.”
Bearman confident his Formula 1 opportunity will come
Oliver Bearman’s comments underline the confidence he has retained despite seeing Andrea Kimi Antonelli fight for the World Championship so early in his Formula 1 career. Rather than viewing their different trajectories as evidence that he has fallen behind, the Haas driver is using their shared junior history as reassurance about his own ability.
That perspective is particularly significant given how quickly Andrea Kimi Antonelli has established himself at the front. His six victories in 11 Grands Prix have given him a substantial championship advantage over both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell heading into the summer break, with the second half of the season set to determine whether the young Mercedes driver can convert his early lead into a maiden Formula 1 world title.
For Oliver Bearman, the immediate objective is different. He remains patient about when a genuine race-winning opportunity might arrive, but the achievements of Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar have only reinforced his conviction that, when he eventually has machinery capable of fighting at the front, he can capitalise on it.
The 2026 season resumes with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on 23 August, the next round on the 2026 Formula 1 calendar.
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