Carlos Sainz Jnr will not take part in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend, his team have confirmed.
His place will be taken by the team’s reserve driver Oliver Bearman, who will make his Formula 1 debut this weekend.
Sainz, who finished third in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix last week, has been diagnosed with appendicitis and is to undergo surgery. “The Ferrari family wishes Carlos a speedy recovery,” said the team in a statement.
“As from FP3 and for the rest of this weekend, he will be replaced by reserve driver Oliver Bearman,” the team continued. “Oliver will therefore take no further part in this round of the F2 championship.”
Bearman, one of the team’s three reserve drivers, was at the track competing in the Formula 2 round for Prema. He will take no further part in the weekend and instead take over Sainz’s SF-24 from the final practice session which starts at 1:30pm local time.
The 18-year-old was named one of the team’s reserve drivers just two months ago. He had his first test for Ferrari at its Fiorano test track in October.
He made two appearances for Ferrari’s customer team Haas during practice sessions last year, impressing them with his performance. Bearman tested again for Ferrari earlier this year in their 2022 car.
However he endured a difficult start to the new F2 season as his Prema team was off the pace in Bahrain, and Bearman failed to score a point. He began the Jeddah weekend in better shape, taking pole position for tomorrow’s feature race, which he will no longer take part in.
Ferrari’s other two F1 reserves are Robert Shwartzman and former Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi. Both drive Ferrari’s 499P hypercar in the World Endurance Championship and were in action at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar last weekend.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…