Oliver Bearman’s performance on his unexpected Formula 1 debut last weekend won praise from Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur.
The Formula 2 driver was called up three hours before the start of final practice to stand in for Carlos Sainz Jnr who had been taken to hospital.Bearman qualified 11th and rose to finish seventh, out-running Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris over the final laps. Charles Leclerc brought the other Ferrari home third. “It was a good one for Charles and for Ollie, both did a good job,” Vasseur told the official F1 channel.
“It was important for us [because] we had a chaotic weekend, Thursday was very difficult for us with Carlos and so on that, and when we called on the last minute Ollie I was not so optimistic. But at the end he did a fantastic job, Charles also. And at the end, it’s a good weekend for the team.”
Vasseur said he had to restrain himself from urging Bearman to keep up his pace to ensure he beat his pursuers over the final laps.
“I was a bit balanced on the radio between ‘push because it’s manageable’ and ‘avoid a mistake’,” he said. “But at the end, on the data, he didn’t do a single mistake all the race.
“It means that we were quite relaxed, I don’t know if it’s possible when you have a rookie into the car, but we were quite relaxed and he did very, very well.”
Vasseur spoke to Bearman on the team’s radio at the end of the race to congratulate him on his performance:
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| Chequered flag | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ricardo Adami | And P7. Awesome job, mate. And mode slow. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vasseur | Mega good job Ollie, congratulations. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adami | And charge off and mode slow. Charge off and mode slow and pick up. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bearman | Not bad, I think. I would have liked to go a bit longer with that soft at the start because it felt good. Just difficult to overtake. But the was mega today so thank you. I really enjoyed it. It was so much fun out there. Thank you for Fred and everyone for the opportunity. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vasseur | Enjoy it, enjoy it. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bearman | The drink is going everywhere except in my mouth. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adami | Okay, we need to fix it then. You are the driver of the day of there, good showing. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bearman | Ah, thanks everyone. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adami | So it’s Red Bull one-two, Perez finished 0.6 behind Max, then Charles 10 seconds behind them, then Piastri, Fernando, Russell, yourself, behind Lando, Hamilton and Hulkenberg P10. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adami | And pick up as you are doing, pick up. And in the pit lane. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adami | Charge on, charge on. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bearman | Okay, I’m jumping out. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adami | Okay, can go to P zero. Good job. I enjoyed that one. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Retired (@jeff1s)
11th March 2024, 12:42
It’s been a long time in F1 since a single driver is cheered, encouraged and applauded unanimously by the whole community.
stefano (@alfa145)
11th March 2024, 16:35
De Vries after Monza received similar praise. Russell in the Williams at Mugello, Leclerc in the Sauber as well. The praising is quite common for rookies, because expectations are generally quite low from them.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
11th March 2024, 13:32
Bearman has really got me thinking about Red Bull and RB’s drivers as we question everyone but Max and there’s a really simple test to solve this conundrum. Drop Max to RB for 3-4 races like Kvyat and put Tsunoda in the Red Bull and sort your driver lineup out.
It’ll answer all our questions:
1. How quick is Max really?
2. Does Ricciardo deserve to remain in F1 or deserve a RB seat?
3. How quick is Yuki? He’s survived 3 drivers over a single season.
4. Does Checo deserve his seat?
All these questions will be quickly answered with a simple swap. No impact on the championships whatsoever.
Potentially consider Bearman next season for one of those spots?
MichaelN
11th March 2024, 15:34
The idea of Max driving one of those cars to set a benchmark is quite interesting. It’s highly unlikely to happen, but hey!
It’s a bit like the old X was better than Y who was better than Z who was better than X conundrum. It might not actually tell us anything, but it’d make for some fun speculation.
miciek (@micio)
11th March 2024, 19:45
I have always liked the idea of doing an event at the end of each season where drivers are mixed and drive different cars, just for fun and comparison of course. That’s be fun after any season!!