Oliver Bearman is not the first Formula 1 driver to contest his second race in a different car to his Grand Prix debut
When Oliver Bearman takes part in his second Formula 1 race at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, he will be doing so in a different car to his debut in Saudi Arabia in the spring: back then, he stood in for Ferrari regular driver Carlos Sainz, now he is replacing suspended Haas regular driver Kevin Magnussen
In the long history of Formula 1, Bearman is not an isolated case with this particular constellation, It was only in 2022/23 that there was the most recent precedent of this kind, when Nyck de Vries competed for AlphaTauri from his second race onwards after his spontaneous debut for Williams.
And if we go back even further in Formula 1 history, there are other scenarios of this kind. Some of the later world champions drove different cars in their second Grand Prix than they did in their first outing in Formula 1. And not all of them were reserve drivers like Bearman in the 2024 season.
From a German perspective, the case of Michael Schumacher is of course particularly interesting: he made his Formula 1 debut at Spa-Francorchamps in 1991 because Jordan regular driver Bertrand Gachot got into trouble with the law. And immediately after the Belgian Grand Prix, a tug-of-war ensued over Schumacher, because Benetton really wanted him – and got him before the next race in Monza.
Sebastian Vettel, another German Formula 1 world champion, contested his first Grand Prix for a different team than race number two: at the 2007 US Grand Prix in Indianapolis, he stood in for BMW Sauber regular driver Robert Kubica after his accident in Canada a week earlier. A few weeks later, Vettel took over the cockpit from Scott Speed at Toro Rosso. It is striking: A throbbing appendix in a driver has repeatedly led to short-term assignments for replacement drivers, who were later placed elsewhere. And: Even great champions once started small, sometimes not directly in a top team