Haas has confirmed that Oliver Bearman will contest the remainder of the Formula 1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix after standing in for Kevin Magnussen on Friday.
Bearman was woken up by a 630 AM phone call from Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu to take Magnussen’s place at Interlagos on Friday after the Dane fell ill.
Thanks to the F1 Sprint weekend structure, that meant Bearman had to contest Friday’s practice and qualifying session and would be mandated to race in Saturday’s Sprint race.
However, shortly after Friday’s Sprint Qualifying session, Haas confirmed Bearman will complete the GP weekend.
“Following Ollie stepping into the VF-24 for today’s sessions due to Kevin’s sickness, we can confirm that the British driver will now complete the full Brazil GP weekend with the team,” a Haas statement read.
“We wish Kevin a full and speedy recovery.”
F1 return ‘a pleasure’ for Bearman
Bearman performed admirably on Friday, out-qualifying team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.
The British teenager was on course to qualify in sixth place before a mistake in Sector 1 and a track limits violation on his final run demoted him to 10th.
Still, Bearman said “the car was feeling really good all day.
“Honestly from the first lap I did in FP1 I had a good feeling.
“So I’m happy to be in SQ3 and finally make it to the third stage of a qualifying session.
“But I just did a little mistake in Sector 1 which lost me a lot of time the rest of the lap was really, really good so I’m a bit disappointed.”
Bearman revealed that when he saw Komatsu’s name light up on his phone Friday morning, he was relieved not to have been woken up by a relative.
“If it was my mum or something, not realising the time difference I would have been a bit more angry,” he joked.
The Briton gave his best to Magnussen, saying “I know he’s feeling bad and he has had a lot of success on this track.
“But of course, I’m very happy to jump back in the F1 car and it’s always a pleasure.”
This weekend marks Bearman’s third Grand Prix racing appearance in 2024.
The Briton finished seventh in a remarkable Ferrari debut in place of Carlos Sainz in the Saudi Arabian GP before finishing 10th in the Azerbaijan GP while Magnussen served a race ban.
His third race now means he doesn’t qualify as a rookie for F1’s post-season test at Abu Dhabi in December.
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