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…
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