English teenager Oliver Bearman will become the youngest British F1 racer in history by making his shock debut for Ferrari at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend.
The 18-year-old will take part in qualifying tomorrow, replacing Carlos Sainz who has gone down with appendicitis. Bearman will become the youngest British Formula One competitor and also the 12th Briton to drive for Ferrari and the first Englishman since Nigel Mansell in 1990.
The 6ft 3in teenager, from Chelmsford in Essex, currently drives in Formula Two and is Ferrari’s reserve driver. He previously made history last October as the youngest British driver to take part in a Fprmula One session – a free practice session at the Mexican Grand Prix, when he was loaned by Ferrari to Haas.
The tweet was accompanied by a photo of Bearman from 2014 when he was eight and another of him now. Berman won both the ADAC Formula 4 and Italian Formula 4 titles in 2021 then came third – only seven points off champion Victor Martins – in his debut Formula 3 campaign in 2022.
His latest breakthrough comes as Ferrari today posted a statement on X, formerly Twitter, confirming Sainz’s diagnosis. It has been a whirlwind 24 hours for Bearman, who only yesterday captured pole position for the F2 race in Jeddah – but will now be in the F1 Grand Prix instead.
Ferrari’s post said: ‘Carlos Sainz has been diagnosed with appendicitis and will require surgery. ‘
As from FP3 and for the rest of this weekend, he will be replaced by reserve driver Oliver Bearman.
Oliver will therefore take no further part in this round of the F2 Championship. The Ferrari family wishes Carlos a speedy recovery.’ Sainz, who finished seventh in FP2 on Thursday, admitted that he had been struggling at the end of the day.
