JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Ferrari’s teen stand-in Oliver Bearman didn’t know he would be racing in Formula One when he woke up on Friday, but by the evening his debut qualifying performance was being praised by Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.
As Ferrari reserve driver it was Bearman, 18, who got the call shortly before Friday’s practice session to replace appendicitis-stricken Carlos Sainz for the rest of the weekend.
The Englishman had been set to start the Formula 2 support race from pole position.
After an hour of track time in practice, Bearman then narrowly missed out on a place in the Q3 top-10 qualifying shootout, almost eliminating Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton in the process.
He will line up in 11th for Saturday evening’s race, when he will become the third-youngest driver to start an F1 event.
“I honestly did not have time to get nervous,” Bearman said. “I woke up this morning fully prepared for my F2 race and I got the call late in the day, just a few hours before FP3 that I would be doing it.
“Not the circumstance I would wish to be making my F1 debut. I wish the best to Carlos and I hope he recovers well but this is a great opportunity.”
He added: “To make my F1 debut in red, hopefully it is a sign to come.”
On paper his Ferrari had the raw pace for a stronger starting position — Leclerc will line up from second in the other car, behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
But Jeddah’s fast and fearsome street circuit is one of the toughest to get to grips with in such a short space of time.
Reigning world champion Verstappen said as much as he singled the youngster out for praise.
“Its super hard to jump in on a track like this,” the Dutchman said. “What he has done has been very, very impressive. To be P11, only six-tenths [of a second] off pole, that is more than I think you could have asked from him.
“He’s done an incredible job. I hope he enjoyed it a little bit, its quite stressful when you come into a new car without any experience.
“Hopefully he is happy with it himself, not [thinking] ‘I didn’t make it to Q3’ or whatever, because I think everyone within the paddock has seen that he did a great job.”
Leclerc echoed Verstappen’s praise.
“It’s definitely one of the most difficult tracks on the calendar for sure, being a street track and being so fast as well. But he handled it perfectly,” Leclerc said.
“As soon as he got in with the engineers this morning he had so much to understand in order for him to be ready that we didn’t have much time to speak. The only thing I said to him when he came this morning was like ‘Are you excited?’ and he was like ‘Yeah, I cannot wait!’ which I expected this answer.
“It was good to see the excitement for him, for his first race in Ferrari, and again he’s done a great job.”
Bearman is considered to be a strong candidate for a seat with Ferrari engine customer Haas in 2025.
He took part in practice sessions with the team in Mexico and Abu Dhabi in 2023.
On his expectations for his F1 debut race, he said: “Just bring the car back. Try and get some points, that would be a bonus … It’s my first race, so I can’t expect much, and this is a really difficult track as well.
“I have honestly spoken to no-one since the announcement, my phone is going crazy but I will try and have a chat with my mum tonight.”
Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez, who will start third, said: “It’s a place where you don’t want to get the call to do your debut because it’s one of the most challenging places. The one where you have to take the most risk, the one where you have to be the most confident with the car, with the balance, so big respect for what he has achieved today, I think he has done a really strong job.
“It just shows how well prepared he is for the opportunity, so well done to him.”
Bearman’s father Oliver was watching on from the garage and videos and gifs of his anxious expressions quickly circulated on social media.
At one point he was seen strongly wincing at a replay of his son’s car brushing closely against one of the walls of the Jeddah circuit.
Source: www.espn.com