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Oliver Bearman scored points on his sensational debut for Ferrari with a performance tipped to make the Briton hot property in next season’s driver market.
Ferrari reserve driver and F2 star Bearman got the shock call-up to replace Carlos Sainz shortly before final practice, when the Spaniard was diagnosed with appendicitis and taken to hospital for surgery.
He missed out on Q3 by less than 0.1 seconds to start 11th and was similarly impressive in the grand prix.
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The 18-year-old held his ground in his first F1 race start but was dumped to 12th after the safety car pit stops for having to stack behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
But three strong passes — on Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu and Nico Hülkenberg — got him up to ninth. He then rose to seventh after Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton made their late tyre changes.
His pace in the long final stint was particularly strong. Both Norris and Hamilton were on relatively fresh soft tyres in the final stint, but Bearman kept both at bay on his fraying hards to take the chequered flag an exhausted seventh.
“I’m destroyed,” he said. “Physically it was a really difficult race, especially at the end when I had the two guys on soft behind me and I had to basically push flat-out.
“It was a mentally difficult race as expected, and physically I was struggling too, but great fun out there.
“Especially my lower back and my neck are hurting. These seats take a bit of finetuning, and as this was the first race we didn’t really have time to focus on that.
“It was not the most comfortable, but I’m happy that we finished quickly. It was good motivation to finish the race quicker.”
Teammate Charles Leclerc was effusive in his praise after the race.
“He’s done an incredible job already,” he said. “From FP3 he was straight [on] the pace in qualifying, he did a great job and missed Q3 by so little, and I think today he’s been incredible.
“Seventh in your first race in Formula 1, having done only in FP3 in a new car, is just hugely impressive.
“I’m sure he’s extremely proud, but everybody has noticed how talented he is, and I guess it’s just a matter of time before he comes here in Formula 1.”
Bearman has long been highly rated and regarded as Ferrari’s next star, and his Jeddah cameo was inevitably billed as an audition for a seat in 2025.
It’s unclear whether Bearman will get a second chance in the SF-24 at the Australian Grand Prix. Sainz underwent an appendectomy on Friday but was well enough to attend the circuit on Saturday.
Facing a return to Formula 2 in Melbourne, the teen sensation said he was pleased with what he’d been able to show.
“I think I put a good showing for myself, which is the main thing,” he said. “Difficult circumstances, not a lot of laps on track, but I think we maximised everything today.
“I felt like I was a bit quicker than [Fernando] Alonso and [George] Russell in front, but not enough to catch — the gap was pretty big.
“I lost a lot of time trying to overtake Hülkenberg, who used his experience to keep me back for a few more laps than he should have, so that’s my bad, but it was a good race.”
Bearman’s performance has put his name high on the list of available drivers for 2025, with 13 seats still uncontracted.
The Briton is heavily linked to one of Haas’s two unsigned seats. He’s already set to take part in six free practice sessions with the American-owned team, which is closely connected to Ferrari as a power unit and technical client.
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