Bearman began karting aged seven, winning British and international titles across multiple categories. He entered car racing in 2020 with US Racing in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship, then switched to Van Amersfoort Racing in 2021, winning both the Italian and ADAC F4 Championships — the first driver to win two F4 titles in the same year. He moved to FIA Formula 3 with Prema in 2022, finishing third in his rookie season with one win and eight podiums. He became a Ferrari Driver Academy member in October 2021 and left school at sixteen to relocate to Modena.
Bearman joined Prema Racing for the 2023 Formula 2 season alongside Frederik Vesti. His year was defined by moments of brilliance undermined by strategic misfortune and occasional errors.
He claimed his maiden pole position in Baku under dramatic circumstances — setting his fastest lap despite a shunt minutes before the session ended that left his steering wheel slightly off-centre. From ninth on the grid after a penalty, he moved through the field to take the lead when three drivers ahead of him collided at a late safety car restart, claiming his first Formula 2 victory. The following day's feature race produced "the double": Bearman won from the front and became the ninth driver in GP2/Formula 2 history to win sprint and feature race at the same event, and only the fourth as a rookie.
Further victories followed in Barcelona and Monza, where he took the lead at the start and controlled the race for his fourth win of the year. Bearman qualified on the front row at several rounds and showed strong race pace, but tyre management issues, penalties, and collisions with rivals including a suspension-ending crash at Zandvoort repeatedly denied him larger point hauls. He finished the 2023 season sixth in the drivers' championship with 130 points, four wins, five podiums, two poles, and two fastest laps.
Bearman remained at Prema for 2024, partnered with Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The season opened promisingly with a pole in Jeddah, but he withdrew from that round to replace an appendicitis-stricken Carlos Sainz Jr. at Ferrari for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix — the mid-season switch that interrupted his F2 calendar most significantly.
His F2 results in 2024 were inconsistent, hampered by Prema's struggles to adapt to the new ground-effect regulations. He claimed a sprint race win in Austria, then won again at Monza from eighth on the grid. His third win of the 2024 season came in Qatar, where he passed Isack Hadjar and built a lead before the tyres went away. He also made a second Formula One substitute appearance for Haas at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when Kevin Magnussen was banned, and at the Brazilian Grand Prix when Magnussen withdrew due to illness. In both cases he scored points, a feat that made him the first driver in history to score points for two different teams in his first two Formula One appearances.
Bearman finished the 2024 Formula 2 season twelfth in the standings with 75 points and three wins, a result he acknowledged was below expectations given his pre-season status as a title contender. He cited the team's balance difficulties and his own interrupted schedule as contributing factors.
Bearman's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix appearance in March 2024 became one of the most discussed Formula One debuts in years. Informed of Sainz's withdrawal after the second practice session, he qualified eleventh and raced the Ferrari SF-24 to seventh place in the main event, holding off Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps. He was voted Driver of the Day and received widespread praise from drivers and team principals. At 18 years old, he became the youngest driver to compete for Ferrari and the then-youngest to score points on a Formula One debut. Haas announced his multi-year deal in July 2024; he joined the team full-time for 2025 alongside Esteban Ocon.