British teenager Ollie Bearman qualified in 11th place for the Saud Arabian Grand Prix as a last-minute stand-in for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz
Max Verstappen took a commanding pole for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix but the attention in Jeddah was gripped by a remarkable debut in, Bearman stepped up with immense maturity and skill to claim 11th on the grid and give definitive notice of his talent.
“I woke up preparing and thinking about my F2 race and then I got chucked in the deep end for an FP3 and qualifying,” he said. “It was such a fantastic opportunity, a bit disappointed with everything but it was a fun day out there. He took part in a practice session in Mexico for Haas in 2023 and demonstrated an immediate affinity for the unique demands of driving an F1 car. He finished there quicker than the double world champion Fernando Alonso, while in a car that was the slowest on track last year and was only 1.6 seconds off Verstappen who was head and shoulders quicker than the rest of the field all season.
At the very sharp end, amid the turmoil still surrounding Red Bull and their team principal Christian Horner, Verstappen remained calm when it mattered. He delivered on track and his advantage was once more crushingly large. With the first round in Bahrain considered an outlier in performance terms, to once more be on top in Jeddah was demonstrative of the potential pace their car has across a variety of circuits, just as it was last season when they won 21 of the 22 races.