The fabulous story of Oliver Bearman in Jeddah

Jeddah, Friday March 8, 14 p.m. local time. Author of a sensational pole position the day before in Formula 2, Oliver Bearman is preparing for his reverse grid race, scheduled a few hours later, when a phone call changes his life forever. On the line ? Frédéric Vasseur, boss of the Team, came to tell him that he was requisitioning him to drive the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, the Spaniard suffering from an attack of appendicitis. The misfortune of one person sometimes makes the happiness of others, and if the shock was at first immense for the Briton, the 18-year-old kid understood that it was the chance of his life, like Nyck de Vries at Monza in 2022 or Liam Lawson at Zandvoort in 2023.

Three hours later, the Chelmsford, Essex native was behind the wheel of the car struck by the prancing horse, for an hour of initiation in EL3, before throwing themselves into the void of qualifying two hours later, at nightfall. The challenge was all the more perilous as apart from a run at Fiorano with the 2021 Ferrari, and two free practice sessions at the end of last season with Haas in Abu Dhabi, Bearman had no experience of the premier category.

But despite his 18 years, his commitment to Formula 2, and the possibility of bringing in more experienced reservists than