24 hours ago, Oliver Bearman was relishing getting the pole position in Formula 2 qualifying. The next thing the Briton knows on Friday afternoon is that he will replace Carlos Sainz for the rest of the Saudi Arabian GP weekend. So, Bearman will make his F1 debut for Ferrari of all teams – Talk about a dream story! Still, it is going to be a steep task for the 18-year-old sensation, after being thrown into the deep end of F1 on very short notice. Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur understands this and doesn’t wish to put any pressure on Bearman.
According to the Sky Sports F1 Live Blog, Vasseur said, “There is always a difference between doing a very good job in the junior series and to do a job in F1. We don’t have to draw any conclusions now, we have to let him have time to do the job and I won’t put any pressure on him this weekend.”
While Vasseur and Co. are setting the bar low, Bearman looked decent in FP3. He logged in multiple laps on the medium tires and put in some fast laps too. The Prema driver eventually finished P10 with a best lap time of 1:29:306.
Still, Ferrari may not expect wonders from him, given it is only one practice session and Bearman is driving in Jeddah, which is an extremely tough track. On Thursday, the British driver got pole in F2 qualifying, but F1 cars are more than 10-12 seconds quicker than his F2 machinery.
Vasseur also stated that the Ferrari reserve driver has tested for the team driving their old car and also did two FP1s last year. The French boss was happy that Bearman got pole in F2 which has served as good preparation for his unexpected F1 debut now.
Oliver Bearman has a steep task at hand with Carlos Sainz out
Carlos Sainz has already undergone surgery for his appendicitis in Jeddah. The Spaniard is resting in the hospital for now and the operation has gone well. Still, he may take two weeks to recover. So, one cannot say whether Sainz can drive at the Australian GP which takes place from March 22 to 24.
The last time an F1 driver had appendicitis, it was Alex Albon missing the Italian GP in 2022. Albon returned for the Singapore GP, but given there was a 3-week break between those two races, it worked well for the Williams driver.
Sainz only has two weeks before Australia. So, if the #55 driver doesn’t recover well till then, Oliver Bearman may keep driving as the reserve for Ferrari. Still from a performance perspective, it is difficult to say how the 18-year-old may perform.
Despite driving for the first time in a competitive F1 session in Saudi Arabia, the Briton could have got into Q3 for a top 10 start but failed by 0.036 seconds. Nonetheless, come Saturday, doing a Grand Prix distance of 50 laps may be a tough task.
On top of this, driving in F1 machinery in Jeddah, which is an extremely quick street circuit, the margin of error is low for him. So, if Bearman can score points and exceed expectations in the Saudi Arabian GP, that would be quite a story!
