Vasseur admits he was 'a little bit worried' about Bearman before Saudi GP

It takes a lot of confidence to leave the wheel of a Formula 1 – all the more so Ferrari – to a young and inexperienced driver, on one of the fastest and dangerous circuits on the calendar and with limited preparation. Friday morning, Frédéric Vasseur had to make this urgent decision, imposed by the loss of Carlos Sainz before EL3. The French leader entrusted the second Ferrari SF-24 to academy protégé Oliver Bearman.

And the Briton went beyond all expectations: coming very close to qualifying in Q3, the young 18-year-old driver had a solid race with a remarkable 7th place at the finish of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. . Ollie Bearman allayed concerns over his inexperience after an impressive weekend.

“It’s certain that he did an exceptional job over the weekend, confided Frédéric Vasseur at the microphone of Canal+, delighted by the performance of his young driver. We must not forget that we called him just before FP2, two hours before. He got in the car; he had never taken a start, never made a pit stop. He discovered all the procedures of the race again today: I was a little worried about the management and all that. But everything went well. And then at the end of the race, when we gave him the gap with Norris, he managed to increase the pace step by step, without taking too many risks in my opinion. He didn't make a single mistake, didn't hit a wall. »

Vasseur: “Finishing ahead of Hamilton and Norris, that’s it! »

For his very first Grand Prix in Formula 1, in addition to the points, Ollie Bearman had the luxury of beating the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, as well as another of his compatriots, Lando Norris. For the first time since 1968, four British drivers scored points at a Grand Prix on Saturday.

“In the end it's a great performance and I'm happy, proud for the academy because it's still a long work for everyone at Ferrari, since Formula 4 with him. It is a very good reward for what has been done, underlined the French leader. For an English driver, finishing ahead of Hamilton and Norris still does it! Afterwards, he knows that the road is still long, he is quite lucid about all that and I think that it is a real chance for us too to have him. »

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