Ollie Bearman has been called up to replace Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari F1 line-up in Jeddah this weekend, after the Spaniard was ruled out of further participation following an appendicitis diagnosis.
The GB3 graduate is Ferrari’s designated reserve driver, and has already completed private testing with the legendary Italian marque, as well as FP1 sessions at the end of last year with customer team Haas.
He’d qualified on pole position for the Formula 2 race this weekend, but will now withdraw from that series to make his F1 debut,
Bearman contested several GB3 races with Fortec Motorsports in 2021, winning a race at Snetterton and took additional podiums at Brands Hatch and Silverstone.
After that, he was a title contender in Formula 3 the following year, and won four times in his debut F2 campaign with Prema last year.
The 18-year-old will jump straight into action with FP3 later on this afternoon, before his first ever F1 qualifying session later this evening.
??@OllieBearman will be Ferrari's youngest ever F1 driver when he makes his race debut this weekend.
— GB3 Championship (@GB3Championship) March 8, 2024
Let's throw it back to @SnettertonMSV 2021, and his first GB3 race win pic.twitter.com/XQEKgr8TBb