Bearman “didn’t do a single mistake all race” on debut

Oliver Bearman’s performance on his unexpected Formula 1 debut last weekend won praise from Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur.

The Formula 2 driver was called up three hours before the start of final practice to stand in for Carlos Sainz Jnr who had been taken to hospital.

Bearman qualified 11th and rose to finish seventh, out-running Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris over the final laps. Charles Leclerc brought the other Ferrari home third. “It was a good one for Charles and for Ollie, both did a good job,” Vasseur told the official F1 channel.

“It was important for us [because] we had a chaotic weekend, Thursday was very difficult for us with Carlos and so on that, and when we called on the last minute Ollie I was not so optimistic. But at the end he did a fantastic job, Charles also. And at the end, it’s a good weekend for the team.”

Vasseur said he had to restrain himself from urging Bearman to keep up his pace to ensure he beat his pursuers over the final laps.

“I was a bit balanced on the radio between ‘push because it’s manageable’ and ‘avoid a mistake’,” he said. “But at the end, on the data, he didn’t do a single mistake all the race.

“It means that we were quite relaxed, I don’t know if it’s possible when you have a rookie into the car, but we were quite relaxed and he did very, very well.”

Vasseur spoke to Bearman on the team’s radio at the end of the race to congratulate him on his performance:

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