Oliver Bearman has shared how what he learned whilst teammates with Andrea Kimi Antonelli at the PREMA F2 team in 2024 put him in a “better place” to now help Haas.

The Briton and the Italian’s careers crossed paths in 2024 when Mercedes secured the latter PREMA’s highly coveted second seat as Formula 2 introduced a new car. Bearman had been with PREMA’s F2 team for one year already, after Ferrari initially secured him a seat in 2023.

PREMA were the team that most drivers wanted to join at the time after winning F2 titles with Charles Leclerc, Mick Schumacher and Oscar Piastri. Bearman admits he and Antonelli also expected to battle for the F2 title in 2024, but PREMA struggled to adapt to F2’s 2024 car.

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The title aspirations that Bearman and Antonelli held ahead of the 2024 season ended very quickly when they realised just how far off the pace PREMA actually were. It took Bearman 13 races to score his first win of 2024 in the Red Bull Ring Sprint, while Antonelli secured his first F2 victory in the Silverstone Sprint during race 15 amid extremely tricky wet conditions.

But Bearman believes what he learned as Antonelli’s teammate at PREMA is now paying off, as he can use those experiences to help Haas rebuild from their struggles. While Antonelli is the 2026 F1 champion-elect in his second year on the grid, Bearman has only scored points during one of the past 12 Grands Prix despite scoring points in three of the first five rounds.

Bearman told The Athletic: “I first met him in Formula 4, and we raced a bit together there. He joined for the last few races of the year that I was winning F4, and he went on to win the next year.

“Then in F2, we became teammates. Honestly, we had a really interesting year together because we came in with what, at times, was the best team in F2. Clearly, we were both expecting to fight for the championship and fight for wins every weekend.

“It was a new car for that season, so it was a bit of uncharted territory for everybody, and we arrived and we were absolutely nowhere. We were so slow, just miles off the pace.

“So, it came from what we were expecting to be a big rivalry; we expected probably to be fighting each other for the championship. Until we realised, actually, we’re going to have to work incredibly hard together to try to make this season even remotely memorable.

“So, I had a really good experience with Kimi. It taught me a lot, especially in the situation I’m in today, where I’m not in a car that can win races. I’m not in a car that is fast enough.

“I learned a few things already in F2 [about] being in that situation. It definitely put me in a better place.”

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Mercedes rushed Antonelli through the junior categories after only making his single-seater debut in 2021 with PREMA late in the Italian F4 Championship, which Bearman won by 111 points over Tim Tramnitz. While Bearman then joined FIA F3 with PREMA in 2022, Antonelli stayed in Italian F4 and coupled it with racing for PREMA in ADAC F4, both of which he won.

Bearman then debuted in F2 in 2023, as Antonelli won the 2023 Formula Regional European title for PREMA and also the Formula Regional Middle East title with Mumbai Falcons. Their paths then crossed in F2 in 2024, as Bearman achieved just 12th in the standings with three Sprint Race wins while Antonelli ranked sixth after he also won the Feature Race in Hungary.

F1 then beckoned for both, as Mercedes handed Antonelli his F1 debut after Lewis Hamilton defected to Ferrari, who placed their rising star Bearman at Haas on an initial two-year loan.

Haas are finalising an extension to Bearman’s loan for 2027, when fellow Ferrari gem Rafael Camara will now join the American outfit to replace Esteban Ocon on a multi-year contract.

While Bearman faces spending a third year fighting in the midfield with Haas, Antonelli is on the verge of winning the Formula 1 title. It is also mathematically possible for Mercedes star Antonelli to become the youngest-ever F1 champion as soon as Sunday’s United States GP.