On Friday (March 8) morning, Oliver Bearman came to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit as the Formula 2 pole sitter, concerned with how he would manage the F2 sprint later that day.
On Saturday evening, the 18-year-old was being congratulated on a great job by Lewis Hamilton after finishing seventh in his first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix.
“Friday morning, Sprint race, F2,” Bearman said in the F1 TV post show. “Got the call about two hours before [practice] I would be jumping into the car, so I had to quickly run and get some stuff from F2 [paddock] and head to F1 [paddock]. I didn’t have a lot of time to get nervous. It was pretty much straight on in.”
On Friday morning, Carlos Sainz dropped out of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend due to appendicitis. The Ferrari driver had surgery later on that day and was back at the paddock for the race the next day.
Bearman got the nod to substitute for Sainz, giving up his F2 duties to focus on getting ready for the race. The Ferrari Academy driver kept the car out of the wall on the tight Jeddah street circuit and was able to qualify 11th – just a hair off of advancing to Q3.
At the start of the race, Bearman ignored patience and engaged in a huge battle with Yuki Tsunoda for 10th, eventually getting by the Visa Cash App RB driver on lap 7.
After pitting for hard compound tires during an early safety car, Bearman managed his tires for the next 43 laps, getting by Tsunoda again and Zhou Guanyu on lap 14.
Nico Hulkenberg and Bearman fought for a few laps. Bearman is scheduled to drive in six FP1 sessions for Haas later on in the season, so this was a very interesting battle. Bearman got by Hulkenberg on lap 19 but Hulkenberg powered back by him for a couple of laps after that, getting by for the final time on lap 23.
Bearman then focused on tire management. In the final quarter of the race, Hamilton and Lando Norris pitted for scrubbed soft tires, with both coming off pit road a few seconds behind Bearman.
The Ferrari debutant was able to keep the gap comfortable between himself and his two fellow countrymen, with Bearman ending the race in seventh and two seconds up the road.
“It was a great race, we managed everything pretty well,” Bearman also said on the F1 TV post show after the race. “[It] was a bit unfortunate with the safety car, it didn’t play into our hands. That stint on hards, especially with the guys on softs behind at the end, it was flat out. Lap after lap.”
It was truly remarkable how well Bearman drove in the race. He had no big mistakes, he didn’t get noted at all for track infringements while many others had at least one or two. It’s always tough to just jump into an F1 car because the g-forces are extremely hard on drivers’ necks, but Bearman didn’t seem to have any issues there.
Thanks to Bearman’s heroics, Ferrari now has a very solid start in the constructor standings. They are now second with 47 points, a 21-point gap ahead of McLaren and a 23 point gap ahead of Mercedes. And, due to how few points that the lower end of the grid scores due to only 10 drivers getting points in a race, Bearman’s six driver points has him 10th in standings in spite of not racing last week nor scheduled to at any other race this season.
He may well have ruined his chance at an F2 championship, but nobody is considering that. Bearman has been a clear contender for a seat at Haas next year in F1, and this run all but guarantees his appointment to a seat on the grid somewhere after this year.
About the author
Michael has watched NASCAR for 20 years and regularly covered the sport from 2013-2021, and also formerly covered the SRX series from 2021-2023. He now covers the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and road course events in the NASCAR Cup Series.
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