Phone Credit Crisis: Bearman’s Last-Minute Ferrari Opportunity

Oliver Bearman narrowly avoided missing a career-changing call from Ferrari in Jeddah due to his manager’s phone credit issues.

Oliver Bearman made his Formula 1 debut in Jeddah earlier this year, stepping in for Ferrari at the last minute. A call after FP3 changed his weekend and career, as he recalls.

“Long before FP1, I went there to catch up with the guys and see how things were going,” Bearman said on the Beyond the Grid podcast. “But after he drove in FP1 and FP2, and I took pole in F2, I thought it would be a normal weekend.”

“And even the next day, Friday morning, I was getting ready to start 10th in the Sprint race because of the reverse grid. I was having lunch when I got the call. The second my name was mentioned, I knew what was coming.”

The future Haas F1 driver explained that he nearly missed this exceptional opportunity because his manager had run out of credit for some phone calls: “First, they called my manager, but he didn’t have credit on his phone or something like that. So I almost missed the race because my manager hadn’t topped up his minutes!”

“But I called Fred back because I had enough data, thank goodness, and he gave me the news. He told me I’d be driving for Ferrari that weekend. I think he quickly realized how nervous I was from the way I was talking to him. He said, ‘Ollie, calm down. Everything’s going to be fine.’”

“I remember telling him, ‘I’ll be at the track in 10 minutes, Fred!’ But my hotel was half an hour away from the circuit. Still, I didn’t want to miss it, I wanted to get there and make sure I could do it. So, yeah, the three hours between that call and jumping into the car for FP3 went like that.”