You can't keep Haas Formula 1 rookie Oliver Bearman with the track for a long time.
During a three-week breakthrough between the UK and Belgian Grand Prix, Bielmann illuminated the Goodwood Festival of Speed before disappearing to a thrilling Swedish holiday. Until the 20-year-old found a corporate kart track at his doorstep, and his tenacious competitive spirit changed his holiday plans with his girlfriend.
“I'm on vacation in Sweden and there's a kart track very close this week,” Bellman explained.
“It's a coincidence. Of course, I'm happy to go to Sweden for a while. My girlfriend's family said, 'Look, you have to beat the Circle Record'.
“The track is really cool. It's a short lap, only 29 seconds, so you have to be very precise, I'm trying every trick in the book because that guy is fast.”
Bearman does take his holiday mission seriously, and when he says he tried all the tricks in the book, he means. After hours of struggling to beat the record, he pulled fuel out of the car, cooled it with a leaf blower, and sought help from his girlfriend to take care of the tires. Failure is not an option.
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 team
Photographed by Andy Hone/lat Images by Getty Images
He added: “It's a serious, serious pursuit. On the last day we put new tires and did it right and lowered the pressure after each run.”
“I stayed for nearly two hours. You had to really get the perfect laps together and then move some walls a little bit, and in the end I managed to beat the lap half and half half. I did look like 15 laps, where it was 0.03 or 0.04.
“I have my pictures and my girlfriend and I pulled the fuel out of the car to make it lighter.
“My girlfriend is repairing the tires. It's just a corporate kart, but because the engine is hot, the engine runs very hot. So we had to take some of the bodywork because when the engine gets hot, the power does drop. It's a high-tech operation.
“Someone slides me straight up and then walks out at the last minute so I can do my knees. I wear regular clothes, but I must wear shorts and a thin T-shirt to lose weight.
For Bearman, his outing was not only a way to do his busy day job and recharge his battery during the busy first half of rookie sports, but also reconnected with the grassroots level, which made him fall in love with racing in the first place.
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 team
Photographer: Erik Junius
“I've always loved karts very much. There, it's incredible and a beautiful country. It's really the ideal way to spend time,” he said. “I hardly intend to go to karts every day, but it's not a bad thing, you know?
“It's in the blood, it's really taking you back where you started, and love the sport very much. It's great to do this, but it's also great to take a week off and not consider racing while still being competitive and enjoying driving. And reflecting on Silverstone's difficult weekend. But because of the race week, the SPA isn't racing fast enough.”
For Bearman, there is still a problem after a successful mission. How does local karting in Sweden drive bones to the knees on the edge?
“I don't know. He should be in F1!,” he said with a smile. “Or he’s 20 kg, which is my only other idea.
“I think the problem is that it’s too hot. I told them if I’m not going to beat the Circle Records, I’ll be back the next morning from six to seven, and it was really cold at that time.
“Obviously, this guy did a circle record on April or May, like that.
Photos of Belgian GP – Thursday
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