Oliver Bearman got help from Lewis Hamilton post his F1 Saudi Arabian GP debut, as he and Frederic Vasseur notes more on it.
It was a big call for F2 racer Bearman to make his F1 debut replacing Carlos Sainz from FP3 onward after the Spaniard had to undergo appendix operation. While he had to learn the nuances of the car, it was a huge physical task too for the Brit.
So much so that Bearman had to be lifted out from his car from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton who reached out to him to congratulate for a good driver. The Brit also had to get his start right, which seems easy from outside but it isn’t as much.
“I am quite young, so that’s cool,” said Bearman to media. “I grew up watching these guys fighting and I didn’t fight with them, but it was a pleasure to share the track with them. It was a pleasure to have that recognition. Hamilton was basically pulling me out of the car, I was struggling a bit, it was really physical.
“But with a race like this, it is one of the lowest degradation tracks of the season and one of the highest lateral Gs, so you’re pretty much doing 50 qualifying laps. Surprisingly, I was not nervous – it was the same as any other race. Once the lights turned on, the procedure is a bit different with a race start compared to F2, but once the lights are on, you’re focusing on what is around you and I think we did a pretty good job.
“Luckily the F4 radios weren’t broadcast, but in F3 I was a bit more irate and I’ve learnt over the years that doesn’t bring any performance. No matter what I tried to stay calm, especially in a situation like this. We knew the race was going to come towards us so I stayed calm and let it come,” summed up Bearman.
The Brit did not have it easy after getting involved in multiple fights before securing himself in the points scene. “On the restart I did a pretty good move on Tsunoda and I don’t think he expect me to cover the inside,” he said. “I had a lot more pace than these guys and they were just a bit smarter than me with energy usage, which is something I’ve never had to do before.
“I was pretty much learning on the job. Especially with Nico, he seemed to use his battery in all the right places and I seemed to use it in all the wrong places, so it took me a few laps to figure it out. I stayed disciplined and didn’t try to overpush,” summed up Bearman, as Ferrari team boss Vasseur had full praise of the Brit.
But the Frenchman doesn’t want to over hype things just yet despite a good show in the circumstances. “The best way to help him is not to draw a conclusion,” he said. “We have to take it easy, that he will have another opportunity during the season to do FP1, to test the car, we will do it properly.
“The main focus is and will stay the F2 this season. He has a huge challenge. I will keep in mind also that he was on pole position, and we killed the weekend for him in F2! But he has a huge challenge in F2, and it’s the first challenge of the season. It’s a mega weekend from Ollie. You know the story: we called him, was something like 2 PM on Friday I think, to jump into the car for FP3.
“It’s not Barcelona, we are in Jeddah, the challenge was mega and he had a very good FP3, he was doing step-by-step. Quali he missed Q3 by a couple of hundred thousands. The race, I was a bit nervous as you have so many things to manage in F1 with the starting procedure, with the pit stop, the steering wheel and so on.
“It was not an easy one and at the end of the day, it went very well. If you have a look, he was even able to push in the last lap to keep Lando and Lewis behind him. I was even surprised myself to push a little bit more from the pit wall and not be conservative as he was not doing mistakes at this stage.”
Here’s more on Oliver Bearman’s F1 debut: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2024-saudi-arabian-grand-prix-oliver-bearmans-impressive-f1-debut-race-drive.1793084036069936477.html
Here’s Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc on their duel
Here’s how F1 Saudi Arabian GP panned out
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