Michael LamonatoOliver Bearman scored points on his sensational debut for Ferrari with a performance tipped to make the Briton hot property in next season’s driver market.
The 18-year-old held his ground in his first F1 race start but was dumped to 12th after the safety car pit stops for having to stack behind teammate Charles Leclerc. “I’m destroyed,” he said. “Physically it was a really difficult race, especially at the end when I had the two guys on soft behind me and I had to basically push flat-out.
“It was not the most comfortable, but I’m happy that we finished quickly. It was good motivation to finish the race quicker.”“He’s done an incredible job already,” he said. “From FP3 he was straight the pace in qualifying, he did a great job and missed Q3 by so little, and I think today he’s been incredible.
Bearman has long been highly rated and regarded as Ferrari’s next star, and his Jeddah cameo was inevitably billed as an audition for a seat in 2025. “I think I put a good showing for myself, which is the main thing,” he said. “Difficult circumstances, not a lot of laps on track, but I think we maximised everything today.