It’s been a while since a teenager debuted in the premier class of four-wheel Grand Prix racing, and it’s been a really long time since the debutant has gone on to create tremors in the paddock!
Carlos Sainz’s sudden appendicitis diagnosis saw Scuderia Ferrari call up the services of their reserve driver and current F2 competitor, Oliver Bearman. He was drafted in to have a go in the last few hours of Free Practice 3 and then directly into the all important Qualifying sessions. This was like throwing someone into the deep end, F1-style.
But Bearman was unfazed by it all. He slotted the SF-24 into P11 on the grid, and on race day, brought it home to a fantastic P7! This was his first-ever race in F1, but the British-rookie knew the fast Jeddah circuit from F2, where he had already claimed pole for the weekend!
“We know he’s quick. We’ve seen him in our car. We know that he can drive a car fast. We said if he comes around the first lap with all four wheels still on, we’ll be really happy. He did that. He was still in P11, so he held his position off the grid, and from then on he just grew into the race. He was learning super fast, but he never overstretched himself. I think that’s the thing I’m most proud of from him,” reflected a beaming Jock Clear, Head of the Ferrari Driver Academy.
For reference, Charles Leclerc in the other Ferrari seat claimed the final step of the podium. Which means Bearman had just the McLaren of Oscar Piastri, Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and Mercedes of George Russell ahead of him.
Importantly, he kept the McLaren of Lando Norris and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton behind him in a thrilling display of concentration and calm. Not bad for an 18-year-old!
Only a debut of that proportion can hide the fact that two very fast Red Bulls have continued to be in a league of their own. Can the RB20 run into any sort of niggles in Melbourne this weekend?
The Albert Park race was red-flagged and restarted repeatedly last time around as Max Verstappen led home a closely bunched field.
Let’s hope the stars align again for Ferrari to steal headlines, if not the win!