Oliver Bearman believes impressing on his Ferrari stand-in appearance is more vital to his ambitions of landing a full-time Formula 1 seat over racing in Formula 2.
Bearman encountered had a whirlwind 24 hours – after waking up Friday morning fresh from topping Formula 2 qualifying the young Brit received the call to stand in for the unwell Carlos Sainz and make his Grand Prix debut with Formula 1’s most-storied team, Ferrari.
The 18-year-old answered the call and jumped in the F1 deep end having missed FP1 and FP2 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, host of one of the most fearsome circuits on the GP calendar.
Bearman’s decision meant sacrificing pole position in Formula 2 with Prema and the chance to get his first points of the 2024 season in the junior formula.
Ultimately it was a no-brainer for the man who is now Ferrari’s youngest-ever Grand Prix driver and Bearman said after being given this opportunity, “there’s no way I’m gonna let it go.
“The goal of F2 is to get to F1. “If I do a good weekend here in F1, it shows a lot more than winning the Feature race and doing well in F2.
“Hopefully I can bring back some points tomorrow and show what I can do.”
With just FP3 Friday afternoon to get acclimatised to the Ferrari SF-24 before qualifying, Bearman impressed, narrowly missing out on Q3 by just 0.036s.
That led to the Formula 1 elite heaping praise on the young star, with the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc giving glowing reviews of his performance.
However, like many racing drivers, Bearman wasn’t fully satisfied with his performance.
“My first lap was a bit scruffy in Sector Three and I lost a lot of time there, and then the tyres aren’t in the best window for the next lap,” he said.
“So that’s my mistake. I felt like my Lap 2 was pretty decent. You know, the gaps are so close. I see little pinches of time here and there but that’s how it is, it’s fine margins.”
Regarding his goal for Saturday’s race, Bearman added: “That’s my goal, no mistakes, build it up and get to the end, avoid any carnage and build up some experience for myself.”
The likes of Hamilton commented on Bearman’s youth, the seven-time World Champion admitted there was “no way” he was ready for GP action at 18 years of age and that wasn’t lost on the driver of the #38 scarlet red Ferrari.
“It’s been such a quick progression in my career,” Bearman said.
“Two years ago, I was in F4 still. I only did my first F1 test like three months ago. So it’s been a really quick progression.
“I think on Monday, I’ll be quite proud.
“At the moment, I’m just trying to maximise things and get some points because that’s my big goal. I’m sure when I take a step back and pinch myself, I’ll be quite proud.”
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