BEARLY LEGAL
Brit teen makes Ferrari debut after Sainz KO
OLIVER BEARMAN admitted any feelings of pride were washed away with disappointment – despite a stellar qualifying session as he made his Ferrari debut.
The British teenager replaced Carlos Sainz for final practice and qualifying yesterday and will start 11th on the grid for his Grand Prix debut today.
Sainz was feeling unwell heading into the weekend and was diagnosed with appendicitis before swiftly undergoing successful surgery.
Ferrari called upon Bearman, who was made an official reserve driver for the team at the start of the season.
Assessing his first competitive F1 session, he said: “At the moment [I’m] not so proud.
“The racer in me knows that the car was quick enough to be in Q3, so a bit disappointed with that.
“But I think when I look back in a couple of days I’ll be quite proud of what I’ve managed to do today.” The 18-year-old had been set to start the Formula Two feature race from pole position after topping qualifying on Thursday.
Explaining the main challenges in stepping up from F2 machinery, Bearman added: “Especially the fact that the track is evolving so much.
“We do qualifying in F2 quite early on in the weekend, so the track develops quite a lot.
“But the grip level is just incredible. After my first lap, I was shocked. “In F2 you drive on the limit of the car. In F1, it’s the limit of the driver – it’s what the driver is prepared to do.
“That’s a great feeling but it takes some time to get used to, but super fun.”
It wasn’t just the fans who were impressed by Bearman’s first qualifying as a Ferrari driver. His new team-mate Charles Leclerc was full of praise for the young Brit.
“First of all, I hope Carlos will recover quickly,” Leclerc said after qualifying on the front row.
“Then on Ollie’s side, I mean he has done an incredible job. He was straight up to speed.”