Despite his eighteen years of age and the experience gained from a few free practice sessions, Oliver Bearman has shown that he is perfectly suited to Formula 1. Although he was called up at the last minute by Ferrari to replace Carlos Sainz, who suffered an attack of appendicitis, the English driver showed all his qualities by finishing the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in 7th place ahead of future Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton. However, his ability on the circuit is not the same as his ability on the road, where the young Brit had to deal with failing his driving test.
The cause was a traffic light that cost him the failure to obtain the document necessary to drive a car in everyday life. It was October 2022 and, as told in an interview with The Sun, Bearman decided to rely on driving instructor David Currey.
INSTRUCTOR’S NARRATIVE
“Oliver reached out through Instagram because I live in the same town as his family. He had failed in his first attempt because he disobeyed a traffic light. It ran a yellow light, or maybe it didn’t stop at all. Or it could have been the way it was positioned at that time in front of the traffic lights – Currey recalled -. We took a lesson in his BMW, but I felt safe with him. When something went wrong, he had it with him. But he was very kind and just wanted to learn. He asked me various questions and seemed very down to earth, a wonderful guy.”
Bearman, however, is in good company as Max Verstappen has also struggled to get his driving licence, although his instructor guarantees he won’t have any more problems: “I wish him the best, but if I see him home again, I don’t want to go in the car with him, I don’t want to have problems at the red light…”.
