Bearman Says He Felt Quicker Than Alonso And Russell

Sunday, 10 March 2024 at 16:30

Oliver Bearman, who completed the first-ever F1 race in his career during the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, suggested he was even quicker than Alonso or Russell.

The 18-year-old Oliver Bearman, who was supposed to race in F2 this weekend, got the opportunity to shine in Formula One during the second race of the 2024 season, and as Charles Leclerc said, he did an "incredible job."

The young Briton had little to no time for preparation as he found out he would be taking the seat about three hours before the qualifying session.

However, he took on the challenge. After qualifying, he put his Ferrari in the 11th spot on the grid and climbed through the order during the race to cross the line in the final P7 position, and he told the media about how he felt after the Grand Prix.

"Destroyed. Physically it was a really difficult race! Especially in the end, when I had the two guys on soft behind me, I had to basically push flat out and it was a mentally difficult race as expected, and physically I was struggling too, but great fun out there."

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In the final part of the race, Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton boxed on the soft compound tire, and it was calculated the two should catch Bearman.

However, he was able to improve his pace and put in very impressive lap times, so neither Norris nor Hamilton could catch him before the end of the race.

"I think I put in a good showing for myself, which is the main thing right? It's difficult circumstances, not a lot of laps on track, but I think I maximised everything today."

The 18-year-old, who is, by the way, the third youngest driver to ever start a Formula 1 race, finished only 2.743 seconds behind George Russell in P6 and 6.92 seconds behind Fernando Alonso in P5 in the end.

"I felt like I was a bit quicker than [Fernando] Alonso and [George] Russell in front, but not enough to catch, the gap was pretty big."

The P7 is already an incredible result, considering it was Bearman's first race in F1 with very little preparation. But maybe he could have finished even higher if he had been able to overtake Nico Hulkenberg quicker.

"I lost a lot of time trying to overtake [Nico] Hulkenberg, who used his experience to keep me back for a few more laps than he should have, so that's my bad, but no, it was a good race."