– Haas Formula 1 driver Oliver Bearman revealed that he was moved to tears after driving Ayrton Senna’s 1985 winning car, the Lotus 97T, at Silverstone. The Haas driver spoke about his deeply emotional experience behind the wheel of Senna’s Lotus and admitted how close he was to tears in that moment.
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In an appearance on the Formula 1 podcast Beyond The Grid, Bearman described his unforgettable outing in Senna’s iconic Lotus 97T at Silverstone. The 21-year-old Brit drove the very chassis with which the three-time world champion celebrated his first Grand Prix victory in 1985 – an experience he describes as “one of the best days of my life.”
Although he was born a decade after Senna’s tragic death, Bearman reveals how deeply this opportunity affected him – especially because he shared the paddock with his father and girlfriend, along with Senna’s then-mechanic who looked after the car that day, and former racer Karun Chandhok.
Overcome with emotion
“I think it was a mix of different things. The most important was probably that it was exactly the chassis with which Ayrton won his very first race,” explains Bearman. “As for Ayrton Senna: I never saw him race live, of course. But he is someone everyone regarded as the absolute best, and it was such a tragic day in 1994.”
“Driving his very first car while his mechanic looked after the car – his engineer was also there that day at Silverstone – was just an extremely emotional moment for me. Sharing that with my father and my girlfriend, who have accompanied me on these big steps, and knowing the story of Ayrton, his fantastic career, and his tragic end. That was a very moving moment for me.”
“I knew I would get very emotional because I sometimes just can’t control these feelings in such moments. As soon as my manager told me a month earlier what I would be doing, I knew it would be a really moving day.”
How he enjoyed the laps
“Driving the car was really one of the best days of my life, and those emotions really hit me hard afterwards,” said the racer.
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The Haas driver had strict instructions to do only three laps to preserve the engine, but he managed to squeeze in an extra lap.
“They said, ‘Okay, when you see the camera car’ – because there was a camera car on the track – ‘just pull in behind it at the exit of Maggotts and Becketts and follow it back to the pits,'” he explains.
Snuck in an extra lap
“But I remember thinking, ‘Oh, I can’t stop now. I’ve only just started!’ So I added another lap.”
“I went full throttle right past the camera car. At the pit wall, no one was watching anymore because everyone expected me to come into the pits. And I flew past for another lap – that was a real victory lap.”
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“I really enjoyed it. And I remember when I came in: some smoke was coming from the brakes because I really pushed it hard on the last lap. It was a lot of fun.”
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