Oliver Berman: I hope my career will be a long one

      Oliver Berman, the new Haas F1 driver, had three Grand Prix races last year, and in all cases he was behind the wheel due to a certain coincidence. The British racer, who was then only 18 years old, at the beginning of the season in Saudi Arabia replaced in Ferrari Carlos Sainz, who required an emergency appendectomy, then twice - in Baku and Sao Paulo piloted Haas Kevin Magnussen. These three races were enough to get into the taste, especially since he earned points at the first attempt, and in Azerbaijan again finished in the top ten. Now Oliver is facing his first full season with the American team, and he's setting some goals for himself. "Haas F1 had a great season last year, was on an upward trajectory and ended up 7th in the Constructors Cup," Berman said in an interview with the BBC regional TV studio in Norwich. - This was a real surprise, while for the team it is a fantastic result. I hope we will continue on this trajectory, although it is clear that it is difficult to make predictions, because we have not even sat behind the wheel of the new car and do not know what positions will be in comparison with other teams. I guess, therefore, my tasks should be reduced to that to analyze their own work, because I want to be proud of their results, to see a stable professional growth and develop throughout the year. I've already done three races last year, I've got a taste for it and now I want to keep going. I will have 24 attempts this year and I'm already excited for the season. The very first race was for Ferrari, and I was the most nervous, it was the hardest day of my life to get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car, especially a red one, but then I had two more races to prepare for, and I knew it was the Haas car I would be driving in 2025. It was really great, and I was able to learn a lot. It just so happened that in each of the three races I was able to fight on the track with Lewis Hamilton, which means that it was a dream come true for me to compete with such a famous and talented driver. I think people don't fully understand how much goes on behind the scenes in Formula 1, how tight our schedules are, including because of the work on the simulator. The level of physical exertion in training is constantly increasing - hopefully you can see that my neck will look a bit more powerful, because that's really important. From the beginning, when I started motorsport at the age of six or seven, I did about 40 races every year. But I've always wanted to do well because I'm passionate about motorsport and I want to keep racing and hopefully have a long career. Oliver Berman will be behind the wheel of the VF-25 for the first time on February 24 during a filming day that the Haas F1 team will hold in Bahrain two days before the official pre-season tests, scheduled for February 26-28.