1 Bearman earns bear hugs THE SAUDI ARABIAN GP IN 5 KEY MOMENTS
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was held on the same weekend as the Oscars, so it was appropriate for one standout performance to be singled out for high praise. And it wasn’t Max Verstappen’s dominant win; instead the plaudits went to the unexpected Formula 1 debut of 18-year-old Oliver Bearman.
Charles Leclerc described his new team-mate’s weekend as “incredible”, team boss Frédéric Vassuer called it “mega”, while Lewis Hamilton lauded F1’s “future star” by describing his compatriot’s performance as “phenomenal.”
On the Thursday of the Jeddah event, Bearman had put his Prema-run Dallara F2 2024 on pole position for the Formula 2 race. Meanwhile Carlos Sainz, who had skipped the previous day’s media duties on account of illness, continued to ail. Fastforward 24 hours and Bearman suddenly found himself at the wheel of Sainz’s SF-24 when Carlos was rushed to hospital for an appendectomy.
This was a highly unusual set of circumstances for the Prancing Horse. For the record, the last driver to make his first F1 appearance at the wheel of a Ferrari was Arturo Merzario at the 1972 British Grand Prix. At 18 years, 10 months and one day, Bearman became the youngest-ever Ferrari driver, the youngest Brit and the third youngest starter in the history of F1. Bearman also became the 12th British driver to be handed the keys to a works Ferrari.
Bearman had just FP3 with which to reorient himself in an F1 cockpit before tackling qualifying. He could be forgiven for being off-the-pace at the fearsome Jeddah Corniche Circuit, but – with deference to the late Denny Hulme – ‘The Bear’ was both fast and error-free.
After missing out on Q3 by just 0.036s, Bearman lined up 11th on the grid and cautiously avoided any trouble at the start by cutting the chicane at Turn 1. Thereafter he started to learn the intricacies of modern F1 machinery by storing up battery power at the right point on the lap to execute clean overtakes on the start/finish straight.
In the final stint of the race he had a charging Lando Norris and Hamilton behind him on fresher rubber, but held station to take seventh place and scoop six world championship points. After the race Bearman was classified 10th in the F1 drivers’ standings – in stark contrast to last place in the Formula 2 campaign, having had to sacrifice his weekend in that championship.
Hamilton was the first to congratulate Bearman, physically assisting the rookie from his Ferrari after a punishing, flat-out race which featured just one appearance by the Safety Car.
“Physically it was really difficult, especially at the end when I had the two guys on softs behind me. I had to basically push flat-out,” said Bearman. “It was a mentally difficult race and physically
I was struggling – but I think I put in a good showing for myself.”
After his surgery, a clearly sore Sainz walked slowly into the paddock on race day to show his support but it was unclear who would be in the cockpit for round three in Australia. Leclerc had no doubts that Bearman would enjoy more F1 track time in the future.
“He was straight on the pace in qualifying. He did a great job and missed Q3 by so little and I think today he’s been incredible. Seventh in your first race in Formula 1, having done only in FP3 in a new car, is just hugely impressive,” said Leclerc. “I’m sure he’s extremely proud but everybody has noticed how talented he is and I guess it’s just a matter of time before he comes here [full-time] in F1.”
2
Success wasn’t a given on alternate strategy
When the Safety Car was deployed on lap seven of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, four drivers opted for an alternate strategy to the rest of the field – with mixed results.
Approaching the high-speed Turn 22, Lance Stroll hit the inside wall with his front-left wheel and careered straight into the barriers on the outside of the corner. Thankfully he was unhurt, despite holding on to his Aston Martin steering wheel at the moment of impact. For three laps the Safety Car circulated and all but four drivers came into pit for hard tyres to take them to the end of the race.
The four drivers to roll the dice were Norris (who inherited the lead), Hamilton, Nico Hülkenberg and Zhou Guanyu. The latter started last on the grid after crashing his Stake in FP3. Although his mechanics rebuilt his car to get out for qualifying, he failed to cross the line in time and so failed to set a lap within 107% of pole, starting the race only by dispensation from the stewards.
The initial expectation was for the pitstops to come around lap 20 so this teed up a potentially interesting final few laps as the later stoppers gained a tyre offset at the expense of losing track position. Another Safety Car at the ‘right’ moment would have made matters more intriguing – and, statistically at this high-attrition track, it was likely. More pressing for Mclaren and Mercedes was the knowledge that Norris and Hamilton would have to double-stack in the pits and lose track position as a result, so the alternate strategy was rather forced on them.
Naturally the all-dominant Red Bulls soon retook their position at the head of the field – Verstappen passed Norris on lap 13 with Pérez close behind – and Leclerc followed them to secure third, 18.6s behind the leader. Leclerc had qualified second but Pérez swept by into Turn 1 at the start of the fourth tour. They remained in that order after the Safety Car pitstops, partly because Leclerc was held in his pit box as Pérez, Oscar Piastri and Fernando Alonso came by. Pérez would later get a five-second penalty for exiting his own box into Alonso’s path.
Behind Hamilton in fifth, an impressive Oscar Piastri couldn’t find a way past. Frustration grew as he out-braked himself at Turn 1 a number of times, then cut the corner making a pass stick and had to give the position back.
Ultimately, Norris and Hamilton required a second Safety Car or even a red flag to bring them back into contention. Neither materialised and they both finished behind George Russell and Bearman in eighth and ninth places respectively.
It’s the first time four British drivers have scored points in the same race since the 1968 French Grand Prix when John Surtees, Jackie Stewart, Vic Elford and Piers Courage last achieved that feat.
Ahead of the quartet of Brits, Fernando Alonso also “kissed” the wall, but unlike his Aston Martin team-mate did so at Turn 9 with no major consequences. He managed to keep Russell behind while not quite having the pace to overhaul the Mclaren of Piastri ahead. After struggling a week earlier in Bahrain, Alonso said Jeddah had been a “small step in the right direction”, adding that P5 “tasted really good”.
3
Magnussen helps Hülkenberg nail a point
Nico Hülkenberg was the one driver, of the four who didn’t pit behind the Safety Car, to make the alternate strategy work – but he needed the assistance of his Haas team-mate to achieve it.
On the first lap after the Safety Car, Kevin Magnussen managed to pick up a 10s time penalty after a robust defence of his 13th place from the Williams of Alex Albon. Shortly afterwards, Kevin was handed a second 10s penalty for going offtrack while overtaking RB’S Yuki Tsunoda.
Since Kevin’s race was effectively over, the Haas pitwall – now led by former race engineer Ayao Komatsu – calculated a target lap time for