For Oliver Bearman, it was a whirlwind weekend, making his F1 debut in the Scuderia Ferrari at just 18-years-old.
Named as the reserve driver for the team, no one could have imagined that he would become the substitute for the second race of the 2024 Formula 1 season and especially at what is considered to be one of the most demanding tracks – Jeddah.

Getting into the seat just before the final practice session (FP3), the team got to work on the car and made all the required adjustments – at 6ft 3 tall, the seat, pedals and all the changes were made by the team.
Entering the session of qualifying and just 0.036s off making it through Q3 – fellow drivers such as Lewis Hamilton said Bearman’s efforts were “impressive” and with Charles Leclerc, his ‘team-mate’ saying he had done an “incredible job“.
After a whirlwind weekend, the driver finished the race in Jeddah in P7 – a great result for the team considering the conditions and the pressure that fell on the driver.
Oliver Bearman: “Having competed in F2, not only on the same weekend but in general, has been really useful for my adaption to F1. It’s the next best thing and there’s lots of techniques that are applicable across both championships.”
“I competed on Thursday in F1 and set pole so I already had a good feeling of the track and managed to get straight up to speed in F1 as a result.”
“It’s a testament to F2 and everyone at F1, in general, at how quickly I was able to adapt to the challenge because it’s a steep hill to climb. The fact that I completed there that weekend was very helpful in that regard.”
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