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Ferrari driver Oliver Bearman was disappointed he had to forgo his F2 pole position start for an F1 outing in Saudi Arabia. Speaking to media including Sportskeeda, the British driver felt that the opportunity to drive an F1 Grand Prix was too good to let go.
The Ferrari junior driver believes he will be on the back foot when it comes to his F2 title campaign as he missed two rounds while he stepped in for Carlos Sainz. The Spanish driver, who had appendicitis, had to missed two days of the race weekend which hosted the feature and main race of the F2 championship.
Indian driver Kush Maini inherited the pole from Oliver Bearman as a result of it and is now second in the championship standings. The 18 year old had a sensational debut finishing seventh in the race, ahead of experienced drivers Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Hulkenberg. He is due to participate in several FP1’s for the Haas F1 team and carry out testing in old F1 cars for Ferrari in 2024.
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Asked by Sportskeeda if the F2 championship was an uphill battle after skipping two rounds, Oliver Bearman said:
“Yeah, of course, after getting pulled in F2, I was a bit disappointed not to be able to finish the weekend. But when an opportunity like this comes, you can't not take it, you know. So, yeah, really happy to have gone for it and I think I did a good showing for myself. Now focusing back on F2, yeah it will be a tough championship from now because I'm basically two rounds behind everyone. Bahrain was a bit of a different story but here I think I could have scored some good points but anyway I've got more points in F1 than I do in F2 at this point. So yeah I got some work to do.”
Asked if he will be doing more F1 tests for the team, Oliver Bearman added:
“Yeah I think we have a lot of stuff coming up with Ferrari. Ferrari and it's nice now that I managed to drive the car through unforeseen circumstances. But you know I managed to get some miles and that's going to be really useful for me for the correlation on the sim and also to help the team when I eventually do some previous car testing.”
Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman admits having fun battling Yuki Tsunoda and Nico Hulkenberg
Oliver Bearman believes he had the car advantage in the Saudi Arabian GP but enjoyed battles with Yuki Tsunoda and Nico Hulkenberg. The 18 year old debutante reckons the Japanese driver did not expect him to lunge on the inside, which he enjoyed.
He felt that his lack of experience hindered his ability to use the batteries wisely, which the experienced German driver was good at. He admits having to learn the tricks of optimising the batteries on the job.
On the other hand, the Haas driver admitted to media, including Sportskeeda, that he tried to push the rookie to overuse his tyres and wear them out.
Asked how challenging it was to battle Tsunoda and Hulkenberg, Oliver Bearman said:
“Yeah, on the restart I did a pretty good move on him. I don't think he expected me to come to the inside. But yeah, I had a lot more pace in these guys. They were just a bit smarter than me with energy usage, which is something that I've never had to do before, you know. So I was pretty much learning on the job, and especially with Nico, he seemed to use his battery in all the right places, and I seem to use it in all the wrong places."
"It took me a few laps to figure it out and you know once you do a lap and drain the pack, you have to wait another one to get back up there. So yeah, I was a bit inefficient with my pass with Nico. But I think the the good thing I can take from that is that I stayed disciplined and didn't try to over push.”
Oliver Bearman managed scoring six points for Ferrari at his debut race, the highest a rookie or substitute has scored in the last decade. His debut performance was hailed by many including the likes of Lewis Hamilton. Having tested the SF21 in October 2023, the Prema F2 driver jumped into the SF22 at Maranello after the race in Jeddah. Currently the scarlet squad are second in the constructors’ championship with a total 49 points.
