The roar of the home crowd and the thrill of signing with a Formula 1 team for next year electrified the surprisingly chilly summer air at Silverstone as it was time for Ollie’s home race.
A crowd of over 100 staff and clients of Aventum painted the grandstand red in support of Ollie with Bearman branded caps, t-shirts and well needed ponchos.
The British driver, who will drive for the MoneyGram Haas Formula 1 Team in 2025, had high hopes after a victorious Sprint Race in Austria the week before.
F1 Free Practice: A Taste of the Future
Friday afternoon saw Ollie back behind the wheel of his F1 team next year in his third Free Practice 1 session of the season. Also on the grid, fellow Formula 2 drivers Jack Doohan (in the Alpine), Franco Colapinto (in the Williams) and Isack Hadjar (in the Red Bull) finished 17, 18 and 19, respectively.
In contrast, Ollie demonstrated his potential by finishing Practice in P14 after spending much of the one hour session in the top ten. His performance was a clear indicator of his readiness for the big league, standing out among his peers who finished further down the order.
In the Formula 2 practice session, Ollie set decent lap times in his Prema Racing car, finishing the session fourth fastest.
Qualifying
Ollie kicked off qualifying with a bang, setting an early benchmark and holding strong in the session. Although other drivers edged past setting slightly faster times, Ollie secured a solid fifth place on the grid, positioning him in P6 for the Sprint Race due to the reverse grid format.
Sprint Race
Saturday’s Sprint Race was marked by treacherous weather. In a typically British summertime storm, the Safety Car led out the formation lap as racing got underway with a rolling start. As the rain intensified, chaos ensued.
Ollie contested fifth place with Gabriel Bortoleto, but contact between the two resulted in a damaged front wing for Ollie, meaning he lost places to Colapinto, Hauger and Martins in just half a lap.
Now P9, a Virtual Safety Car was required on Lap 3 to recover Ollie’s endplate from the track. Racing quickly resumed but a full Safety Car soon followed on Lap 4 and, with rain causing extremely poor visibility, the race was red-flagged.
Restarting on Lap 7, by Lap 13, Ollie passed Hauger in Turn 4 to get up into P8 and pace seemed promising. However, Ollie ran through the gravel at Copse Corner, plunging to 18. On Lap 16, Ollie pulled the car to the side on the Hangar Straight, bringing out another Virtual Safety Car as he was forced to retire the car.
Feature Race
Undeterred by Saturday’s setbacks, Ollie made a blistering start in the Feature Race, leaping from fifth to second by the end of the opening lap. Pitting on Lap 8 for hard tyres, he struggled to regain pace but managed to secure valuable points with a seventh-place finish.
Ollie admitted it was a tough race. He said, “I made a good start and first lap as I got up to P2. I came into the pits in P3 for the pitstop, but after that, the pace was quite bad and I was struggling to keep up with the cars in front and in high speed corners.”
Post-race, Prema Racing received a €1,000 fine due to dry ice pellets seen coming out of Ollie’s car at Turn 15 of the formation lap. The FIA deemed it the reason for Bortoleto’s spin and Ollie was handed a five place grid drop suspended until the end of the season, which will be implemented for any similar violation.
Looking Ahead
As the F2 season progresses, Ollie looks forward to a brief rest before heading to Hungary for Round 9 - from 19-21 July.
