Oliver Bearman admits he is unsure “what else I can do” to earn a full-time seat on the 2025 Formula 1 grid after his starring stand-in appearance in Saudi Arabia.
Bearman was hauled from his usual Formula 2 duties to replace Carlos Sainz at Ferrari ahead of the final practice hour, with the Spaniard ruled out with appendicitis.
The Briton missed out on a top-10 starting place, but delivered an assured race performance to climb from 11th to seventh, beating Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton.
Having revealed that Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur told him not to be a “hero”, Bearman admitted that he was pleased to sustain a clean run to the chequered flag.
“Yeah, the car was fine today, so that’s obviously a big bonus,” Bearman reflected.
“But I think we executed a clean race, no mistakes, and that’s exactly what we were looking for, so I’m happy with my performance.”
Bearman had to bide his time as he got stuck behind Yuki Tsunoda in the nascent laps, but he was able to surprise the RB driver on the restart with a lunge into Turn 1.
The Ferrari prospect then encountered the long-running Nico Hulkenberg and admitted that the tactical use of the battery power
“Yeah, on the restart I did a pretty good move on him [Tsunoda], I don’t think he expected me to come on the inside,” Bearman assessed.
“But yeah, I had a lot more pace than these guys, they were just a bit smarter than me with energy usage, which is something that I’ve never had to do before you know, so I was pretty much learning on the job, and especially with Nico, he seemed to use his battery in all the right places, and I seemed to use it in all the wrong places.
“So it took me a few laps to figure it out, and you know, once you do a lap and drain the pack, you have to wait another one to get back up there.
“So yeah, I was a bit inefficient with my pass on Nico, but I think the good thing I can take from that is that I stayed disciplined and didn’t try to over-push.”
The 50-lap affair around the high-speed, 3.836-mile Jeddah Corniche Circuit is one of the most punishing races for the drivers to tackle on the entire F1 calendar.
Bearman has admitted that he struggled with the fitness side towards the closing stages, with Lewis Hamilton on hand to “pull me out of the car” in parc ferme.
“It was really physical, but you know, with a race like this, it’s one of the lowest degradation tracks of the season and one of the highest lateral Gs,” he explained.
“Syou’re pretty much doing 50 qualifying laps, which is quite impressive.”
Having become the youngest Ferrari driver to compete in a grand prix, Bearman also achieved the best result from an F1 rookie since Felipe Nasr nine years ago.
Bearman divulged that once the debrief with his Ferrari team was complete he intended to “have a nice big dinner tonight, a big dessert as well, I think I earned that.”
Sainz was present in the paddock to support Ferrari after the completion of his operation, but Bearman is unsure whether he will need to deputise again in Australia.
Asked whether he expected to make another outing in Melbourne in a fortnight, Bearman answered: “Honestly I’m not sure.
“I’ve seen Carlos seems to be recovering really well, and I’m happy for him, because at the end it’s his car, his championship, so yeah, I think he’ll be fine and I hope he’s good as well.
Regarding his chances of earning a permanent place on the F1 roster, he replied: “I don’t know what else I can do, because I don’t think I’ll be in F1 for the rest of the year.
“So that was my goal, to do a great showing this weekend. I think I did a decent job, so that’s alright. And yeah, that’s all I can do, to push in F2 and cross my fingers, that’s it.”
Alongside his Ferrari role, Bearman is also the Haas team’s reserve driver and will get behind the wheel of the VF-24 in six FP1 sessions throughout this campaign.
“I have a lot of FPs with Haas this year, so I’m looking forward to building up a relationship and gaining more miles in the car, and hopefully I can open that up,” he added.
Bearman also disclosed that he has more tests planned with Ferrari, which could extend to sampling the squad’s ground effect 2022 race-winning challenger, the F1-75.
“I think we have a lot of stuff coming up with Ferrari, and it’s nice now that I managed to drive the car through unforeseen circumstances, but I managed to get some miles, and that’s going to be really useful for me, for the correlation on the sim, and also to help the team when I eventually do some previous car tests,” he concluded.
