Lewis Hamilton heaped praise on Oliver Bearman’s performance in his short-notice debut for Ferrari at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit today.
Bearman qualified 11th on the grid for tomorrow’s race after being called up to replace Carlos Sainz Jnr less than three hours before final practice began.Ferrari’s substitute came within three hundredths of a second of reaching Q3. The final driver to make the cut was Hamilton, who will move to Ferrari next year.
“I didn’t see his qualifying but I think he did an amazing job in practice,” Hamilton told the official F1 channel. Bearman ended his first session in a Ferrari within 0.7 seconds of team mate Charles Leclerc.
“To jump into a car in P3 and deliver the way he has is really, really impressive,” Hamilton continued. “Really happy for him to have the opportunity.
“It also highlights the car is pretty good – one of the drivers is in number two [on the grid]. But a great, great effort for today and I’m sure tomorrow he’ll have a great time.”
Bearman’s debut came about after Sainz was taken to hospital with appendicitis. He has undergone surgery and the team say he is recovering.
Hamilton’s team mate George Russell was also impressed by Bearman, who appeared in two practice sessions for Haas last year.
“First, we wish Carlos well and hope he’s doing okay,” said Russell. “But I’m really impressed by Ollie.
“I watched him in Formula 2, I remember watching his laps in Mexico last year in Haas, I thought he was driving really well.
“He definitely exceeded my expectations because being thrown in, in FP3, is a challenge at the best of times, let alone on a circuit like this. So well done to him.”
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An Sionnach
8th March 2024, 22:24
The car is good:
* Has a non-broken seat.
* Seat is not on the front axle.
Yellow Baron
8th March 2024, 23:51
It’s also shows that F1 is stupid for not having more teams to be able to field young drivers.
This guy is 18 and on short notice with only one practise session performs well. Theres a lot of talent that simply doesn’t even get the chance in F1.
All the more important to have more teams due to the fact that at least half the current grid is likely here to stay for the next 10 years minimum. More team to provide more opportunities is necessary otherwise we’ll have the same grid every year barna few changes here and there
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
9th March 2024, 3:24
Probably wrong but I think there’s theoretically 13 allowed at the moment.
But all effort seems to be to deny Andretti, lambast Red Bull and delay until the new Concorde Agreement sets it at 10.
This of course would require FIA to sign off too. Perhaps one reason for the relentless pursuit of ousting MBS, who is not on favour of this.