History-maker Oliver Bearman praised for “incredible job” as emergency F1 stand-in
Oliver Bearman says he was "not proud" of his F1 qualifying debut, but received high-praise from Charles Leclerc.
Charles Leclerc believes Oliver Bearman did an “incredible job” on his F1 qualifying debut for Ferrari as a last-minute stand-in for Carlos Sainz.
The British teenager was drafted in on the morning of qualifying after Ferrari regular Sainz needed immediate surgery for appendicitis.
Bearman was pulled out of his Formula 2 duties to replace Sainz, and was only informed an hour before the final practice session began.
The 18-year-old, who became the youngest-ever British F1 driver, as well as the youngest to drive for Ferrari, was lauded by Leclerc after qualifying 11th for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
“First of all, I hope Carlos will recover quickly,” said Leclerc, who was beaten to pole position by Max Verstappen. “Then on Ollie’s side, I mean, he’s done an incredible job, obviously, with only one session in FP3.
“He was straight up to speed and comfortable with the car. So it’s good. I’m happy for him, obviously.
“It’s a very special day – the first race in Ferrari having done only one session, I guess is even more special. So I hope that tomorrow we can have a great race, both of us and score good points for the team.”
Bearman admitted he was disappointed about failing to reach Q3 after a “messy” second qualifying session.
"At the moment not so proud, the racer in me knows that the car was quick enough to be in Q3, so a little bit disappointed with that,” he told Sky.
"But I know that when I look back in a couple of days I'll be quite proud of what I've managed to do today.
"The goal was to do as many laps as possible. Especially at night, I missed FP2 which is not ideal. That was the goal.
"The soft tyre lasts quite well, it's quite durable, so just tried to get as many laps in Q1. Q2 was a bit more messy, a few mistakes on my side, so that's where I'm disappointed."
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