Oliver Bearman revealed his panic-stricken reaction when Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur told him he would substitute for Carlos Sainz Jnr at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix earlier this year.
The Formula 2 driver made his Formula 1 debut when he was called up by Ferrari after Sainz went down with appendicitis in Jeddah. Bearman received the news after the first day of practice, meaning he had only an hour to practice before qualifying.The news didn’t come as a complete shock to him. “I knew that Carlos was not feeling great but I continued focusing on Formula 2 and watching [free practice] like I normally would,” Bearman told High Performance. “I spoke briefly with his trainer because he was my trainer last year, more out of care for Carlos because Jeddah is a really difficult track and very physical on the body.”
After Ferrari learned Sainz had to undergo surgery and would not be able to race, Vasseur called Bearman’s manager Chris Harfield.
“It was qualifying day, sitting with Chris and the rest of my little personal team,” said Bearman. “I saw the call on Chris’s phone from Fred Vasseur.
“Normally on a race weekend it doesn’t really spell good news when Fred calls. I knew he wasn’t going to call me to say ‘good luck’ for the [F2] race. I could see Chris’s face when he picked up the phone and it was a specific facial expression.”
Bearman said Vasseur was startled by his enthusiastic reaction. “I put two and two together. I knew the Carlos wasn’t feeling great and I could feel a bit of excitement.
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“Chris’s phone wasn’t working correctly, so I called Fred afterwards, and he broke the news to me. I think I panicked a bit because he was telling me to calm down and just to head to the track.”
“We got straight in the car and I was so nervous but I headed into the paddock and the news hadn’t broken yet. I was walking in standard, no one took any notice of me. I was just an F2 driver going in for lunch or something with Ferrari.”
After qualifying 11th, Bearman was relieved to hold his position when the race began, having had few opportunities to practice his starts.
“My spread of clutch drop was between 20 and 60%,” he explained. “At 60% you don’t really jump off the line and you get a slow start and 20% you go into anti-stall and you don’t get off the line at all.
“I was literally just hoping that I could get that car off the line. It wasn’t a given.
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“So when I dropped the clutch and the car moved at a decent speed relative to the others, I let out a little victory relief. And then I could get on with the race. That was my most nervous moment, honestly, getting off the line.”
Bearman rose four places and finished the race seventh, immediately behind George Russell and ahead of their fellow British racers Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton. But as Charles Leclerc finished third in the other Ferrari, Bearman admitted he wasn’t satisfied with his result.
“I didn’t feel much emotion,” he said. “It’s a bit hard. After the race, I’d just finished P7 but my team mate was on the podium and I knew that the car was good for much more. So I wasn’t super, super-pleased.
“Of course I was happy that I finished the race with no incident, but I knew that I could have done a bit better with a better qualifying, et cetera.
“But then I saw my father and that puts it into perspective. I saw the emotion in his eyes. This has been a journey that we’ve been on together since the beginning. I remember the early days when we would wake up at 5, 6 a.m. and then go to Rye House, those freezing cold winter months when I would come in crying because my hands were so cold. All those moments come flashing back.
“That was when I really appreciated the gravity of the situation.”
Bearman is due to make two further appearances in F1 practice sessions this year, for Haas, before joining their driver line-up for next season.
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Imre (@f1mre)
20th August 2024, 12:27
The good old “Calm down” advice when you are all but calm.
paulsf1fix
20th August 2024, 18:19
I’m taking anything away from Ollie, he did well.
Ferrari not so long ago would probably have used Hulkenberg for that race and asked Hass to field Bearman for that one race or so…..
chimaera2003 (@chimaera2003)
20th August 2024, 19:29
I reckon if Sainz was ruled out much earlier then they could have done something different, like Hulkenberg as you suggest.
However, time pressure (measured in hours, not days) would have been mega and trying to sort out a contract for an unfamiliar driver without a seat fitting or race suits would have been a nightmare. Ollie was under contract, fitted and named suits and the mechanics would have had a spec to set up the car before he even got to the garage.
George had much more time (relatively speaking) to prepare for his Lewis replacement gig and even then he couldn’t get shoes that fitted.
Nick T.
22nd August 2024, 14:34
Fascinating stuff.