18-year-old British racing driver Oliver “Ollie” Bearman made a surprise Formula 1 (F1) debut for Ferrari over the weekend in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He was called up to fill in for regular driver, Carlos Sainz, who was unable to race due to appendicitis and needed to undergo surgery on Friday.
Bearman was already in Saudi Arabia, where he was racing in Formula 2 (F2). He becomes the third-youngest driver ever to race in F1 (after Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll) and the youngest British driver ever to race in Formula 1.
Having been called up at very short notice on Friday 8 March, with the race being held on 9 March – Oliver performed extremely well, after he qualified in P11 for Saturday’s race.
After a strenuous 50-lap race in Jeddah, one of the more challenging tracks in the F1 calendar, Bearman finished in an impressive seventh place, beating fellow British drivers, Lando Norris of McLaren, and also seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.
When interviewed after the race on Saturday, Ollie said “I think I put in a good showing for myself, which is the main thing right? It’s difficult circumstances, not a lot of laps on track, but I think I maximised everything today.”
Ferrari teammate, Charles Leclerc, heaped praise on the teenager, saying “I am sure he is extremely proud and everyone has noticed how talented he is. It is just a matter of time before he is here (established) in F1.”
1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill wrote on X (Twitter) “A star is born now. To jump in at such short notice, on a track as intimidating as Jeddah, in a Ferrari of all things, and hold up under immense pressure from Lando and Lewis and keep it together. Wow.”
