As Red Bull’s Max Verstappen sprinted away to victory during Saturday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, all eyes were on Ferrari newbie Ollie Bearman.
The 18-year-old British driver scored points in his dazzling Formula One debut, fending off the likes of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes to finish seventh.
An unusual set of circumstances led to Bearman landing the emergency role as Carlos Sainz underwent surgery for appendicitis and was forced to miss qualifying and the race. Bearman, a reserve driver for the Ferrari and Haas teams, had just qualified for pole position in F2 and was handed the reins.
Bearman became the third-youngest driver in F1 history (behind Verstappen and Lance Stroll) and the first driver in over 50 years to make their debut with Ferrari.
The difficulty cannot be overstated as despite only having a few practice sessions in an F1 ride under his belt and jumping into a car fitted for someone else, Bearman qualified 11th to set himself up in a good position to earn points.
Bearman was only one of two drivers to start the race on the soft compound tires that would have forced him to pit earlier than the majority. However, Stroll’s crash on Lap 7 brought out the safety car and allowed Ferrari to double-stack for a cheap pit stop to minimize position loss.
Norris and Hamilton didn’t pit under the safety car and stopped for softs late in the race. However, they ran out of real estate and couldn’t close the gap to Bearman, who finished three seconds ahead.
Welcome to the show, Bearman.
As for what this means for Bearman’s future, we’ll have to play it out and see where it goes.
Sainz, already out of the hospital and back in the paddock, is expected to recover in time for the Australian Grand Prix taking place in two weeks.
Bearman won’t be the British driver in that car full-time next season with compatriot Hamilton already signed to replace Sainz. As we saw when Nyck de Vries filled in for Williams driver Alex Albon at Monza in 2022, though, it could open up opportunities elsewhere, especially with numerous seats still to be determined for 2025.
UNMATCHED VERSTAPPEN
It’s become an all-too-familiar refrain as Verstappen took the checkered flag from pole position for his second win in a row to start the season and ninth consecutive victory since Japan in September 2023. Verstappen, who now has 56 victories, also hit the century mark for career podiums.
With Charles Leclerc beside him on the front row, Verstappen got the jump on the Ferrari driver at the start into the first turn and took off from there. If not for Norris and a few others staying out during the safety car, Verstappen wouldn’t have conceded the lead, which the triple world champion reclaimed only a handful of laps later once the race resumed.
Verstappen finished more than 13 seconds ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez (due to a five-second penalty applied post-race), but more alarming is their nearest competitor Leclerc was farther back by over 18 seconds in third place. The Red Bull is simply unmatched at this point.
Small consolation: Leclerc managed to snag the fastest-lap bonus point, on the last lap of the race no less, so it wasn’t a clean sweep for Verstappen this time.
HULK STILL RULES
Aston Martin driver Stroll was the first to crash out during a grand prix this season when he tagged the wall and broke the suspension in his left front wheel. The Canadian was then just a passenger as his car sailed straight into the barriers.
That unforced error was costly as Stroll was running ninth, having passed Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda at the start, and he should have remained in contention to pick up points.
The flip side is that opened up the opportunity for someone who didn’t score points during the season-opener last week in Bahrain to finish in the top 10, and that someone was Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg — with a stick tap to teammate Kevin Magnussen.
Hulkenberg was one of the handful of drivers who didn’t pit under the safety car and needed Magnussen behind him to hold up the field. Magnussen had already received not one but two 10-second penalties to be applied post-race, so he was already out of contention and had the likes of Tsunoda, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Albon breathing down his neck. Doing his best impression of Gandalf, they shall not pass. Magnussen kept them all at bay, so when Hulkenberg went for his pit stop and returned to the track, they were all still well behind.
That little assist helped Hulkenberg finish 10th and snap a lengthy drought. Although Hulkenberg picked up three points during the sprint in Austria, it had been almost a full year since he last scored points in a grand prix, when he finished seventh in Australia.
QUICK PIT STOPS
• McLaren vs. Mercedes might end up being the most intriguing fight on the track this season as we saw Hamilton battling with Norris and Oscar Piastri at times. Fernando Alonso is keeping the Aston Martin in the mix among those with Mercedes engines, though he lamented on the team radio for a Plan B as Piastri’s McLaren was “in another league.”
• I’m not an engineer (nor do I play one on TV), but Mercedes needs to solve its bouncing issue, while the sound of McLaren’s car scraping against the track can’t be good for business or anybody.
• There’s still quite the divide between the top teams and the bottom teams with Williams, Alpine, RB and Sauber still looking for their first points. Tsunoda couldn’t convert a P9 start into points, as he finished 15th (due to a five-second time penalty applied post-race), while RB teammate Daniel Ricciardo (16th) was practically invisible if not for a late spin on the track.
• Alpine’s Pierre Gasly had his race come undone right after it started as he was called into the pits on the opening lap and forced to retire due to mechanical problems. Thanks to Bearman subbing for Sainz, Gasly is now 21st in the standings for a 20-car drivers’ championship.
• Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were 17th and 18th, respectively, i.e., the last cars to cross the finish line, although their pit crew made matters worse again. While Bottas was the victim of a lengthy pit stop last week, this time it was Zhou who was held up in his box by his team.