VF-26 Launch - Ollie Bearman Q&A

Welcome back! We’re not sure if we can consider this an ‘off-season’, but how was your break, and how does it feel being back at work?

“It was a very short off-season. I’ve been told they're not normally like this, but I've only experienced a short one like this so far. It was nice first of all, to get a break after the post-season test, although we still had a lot of things to do like simulator work for this year, and also do seat fit for this year's car as well. The last activity I had was on December 23, but between that, I was also able to have a good amount of time off and spend some time with my family. Most importantly, I could recover and reset my batteries for the new season.”

As you said, before Christmas, you went into the sim for the first time with the 2026 car and completed your seat fit. Without having driven the VF-26 yet, what are your first thoughts knowing the changes?

“I feel these changes are the biggest in the history of Formula 1, so with that is a huge deal of excitement for me. I'm heading into a regulation change for the first time in my life, really. Last year was a big step for me, but I think even from the beginning, we knew that if we put the car in the right window, we were still going to be able to fight for points, and we had an idea of the competitiveness of the car.

“That lack of knowledge heading into 2026 is good and bad, as on one side I feel like we can really have an impact straight away, but also it's horrible not knowing. I would like to skip forward six months to see where we are, but I'm going to be giving it everything to make sure that where we are is as high up as possible.”

With it only being six weeks since the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, what’s your physical preparation looked like and how have you had to alter it given the shortened off-season period? Have you been put on a Percy Pig ban?

“Firstly, I spent the whole of December out of the gym, no physical training really, simply trying to relax and spend a bit of time enjoying myself. I think it’s really important where you have no races and a bit of time to enjoy yourself. Then, quite quickly, it comes around and you're back to training, and I spent a lot of time in the mountains this winter break. Not only is that really beneficial – the altitude for your health and training – but I was also able to conduct a training camp in the Dolomites, which was incredibly fun and very useful heading into the new season. Maybe a bit of a sugar ban...”

You’ve shed your F1 rookie status now - so looking back on your debut season after some time off, what’s your final evaluation of 2025?

“It was a year where I certainly learned a lot, not only about myself as a person, or as an athlete, but also about Formula 1. I've really increased my knowledge base infinitely, because I've been put in experiences that you just can't learn prior to experiencing them. I've definitely improved a lot in all of those areas and I'm really happy with how the season went, particularly the second-half. You know, I really upped my game, I felt like in the second half of the season, I started to put down some really some results that I was really happy with, and that was critical for me. I'm excited to continue that this year.”

With 22 cars on the grid this year, can you have any expectations this early on, and how long into the season do you think we’ll be until you can see a true performance order established?

“It’s impossible to gauge where we're going to be right now. Everything I'm seeing from the team is positive, but we don't know how we stack up, and we won’t know until qualifying in Australia. Even then, I feel like in the first few races reliability is going to be playing a big factor. There are going to be teams and people making mistakes with these new regulations. It's going to be tough to establish a true pecking order.”

Now you’ve got a full season under your belt, what are you most looking forward to in 2026 and what’s giving you food for thought?

“I'm most excited to return to all of these circuits, having experienced a race weekend already. I now understand how a track evolves through the weekend, how the tires perform, and what changes may have tripped me up last year. More often than not, last year, I was going to new circuits where my competition had been plenty of times.

“Of course, I'm now going to circuits that I’ve only driven at once, and where my competition has driven 10 or 11 times, but I feel like even just having one race weekend’s worth of experience at a circuit, and the knowledge base that I've built up from a full season of F1 is going to put me in a much better place.”