Tag: Ollie Bearman

Ollie Bearman is scheduled to make FP1 appearances for Ferrari as well as Haas later this season, following his impressive debut at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The Ferrari reserve driver was required to stand in for the unwell Carlos Sainz, who underwent surgery on Friday morning after being diagnosed with appendicitis, and finished seventh after qualifying 11th. Team principal Fred Vasseur says the strong performance from Bearman needs to be seen as a further step in his development towards a full-time drive in future, and reveals he’ll complete Ferrari’s FP1 sessions later this year on top of six outings for Haas.

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“I think in this situation we had good young drivers a couple of times, not only at Ferrari but on the grid, and I would say the pace… I don’t want to say it’s easy to have, but it’s something they can achieve,” Vasseur said. “The fact he did a short weekend without FP1, FP2, without any mistakes, for me it’s unrealistic. Honestly, I was completely impressed by this.

“In Jeddah, between the walls, skipping FP1, FP2, going almost directly into qualifying. In Q2 on the first lap he was doing a good lap, he had the red flag, he made a mistake in the second one, he started the last lap in the qualifying with nothing on the board and he was three hundredths behind Lewis [Hamilton]. With a clean Q2 I think he’d be able to get to Q3.

“But again in Jeddah you have to consider it as a step, not the final target. He did well this weekend, he will have other challenges in front of him in the future with F2, he will do a couple of FP1s with us and Haas in the season.

“We know all of you, and including me, that in six months’ time we won’t speak about Jeddah, we’ll speak about Mexico or Brazil if he’s doing well. And we know every single day will be a new challenge, but we know if he continues with the same approach (as Jeddah) he will do well.”

While the FP1 appearances will likely have been mapped out long before Bearman’s opportunity in Jeddah, Vasseur says the way the 18-year-old handled the race gave the team principal himself confidence to push his driver late on as Hamilton and Lando Norris chased him down.

“I think as everybody has said it’s a mega weekend from Ollie. You know the story, we called him – it was something like 2pm on Friday I think – to jump into the car for FP3. It’s not Barcelona, we are in Jeddah, the challenge was mega and he had a very good FP3, he was going step by step, and then in qualifying he missed Q3 by a couple of hundredths and thousands.

“The race I was a bit nervous as you have so many things to manage in F1 with the starting procedure, with the pit stop, the steering wheel and so on, it was not an easy one and at the end of the day it went very well.

“In the end he managed very well, if you have a look he was even able to push in the last lap to keep Lando and Lewis behind him, and I was even surprised myself to push a little bit more from the pit wall and not be conservative as he was not making any mistakes at this stage.”

Ollie Bearman’s performance as a last-minute Saudi Arabian Grand Prix call-up for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari impressed his teammate Charles Leclerc and also drew praise from the Red Bull drivers.

Sainz was diagnosed with appendicitis after feeling unwell arriving in Jeddah, and had to undergo surgery on Friday morning when his condition worsened following Thursday practice. Ferrari reserve driver Bearman received confirmation he would be replacing Sainz just a few hours before FP3, and the 18-year-old missed out on a spot in Q3 by just 0.036s as he qualified 11th.

“It’s definitely one of the most difficult tracks on the calendar for sure, being a street track and being so fast as well,” Leclerc said. “But he handled it perfectly.

“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.”

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Polesitter Max Verstappen was similarly impressed, saying he was paying attention to Bearman’s first laps in the Ferrari during final practice.

“It’s super-hard to jump in on a track like this,” Verstappen said. “I think what he has done has been very, very impressive. I was watching his first few laps in FP3 because that’s when you can judge if someone is comfortable or not in a car, and by lap two, lap three I was like, ‘OK, that’s a strong start, I like to see that!’

“Yeah, to be P11, I think at the time only six tenths off pole, that is more than I think you could have asked from him. So for sure, yeah he’s done an incredible job, and I hope that he also enjoyed it a little bit out there, because it’s quite stressful when you come into a new team, basically, a new car, and without any experience, and this track.

“Hopefully he is happy with himself also — not that he says, ‘Ah, I didn’t make it to Q3′ or whatever, because I think everyone within the paddock has seen that he did a great job.”

Sergio Perez, who qualified third, agreed Jeddah is one of the tracks that would provide the biggest challenge to a rookie driver, as Bearman had to withdraw from the Formula 2 weekend having qualified on pole position in that category.

“I think it was very impressive,” Perez said. “I think 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, 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.”