Ollie Bearman’s favourite pre-race message forward of his surprising debut on the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix got here from Sebastian Vettel, whereas he additionally praised the assist of Carlos Sainz from the Ferrari storage.
The 18-year-old changed Sainz — who was sidelined by appendicitis — from FP3 onwards in Jeddah, simply lacking out on a spot in Q3 after which climbing to seventh place to attain factors on debut. Bearman says he’s at all times been a Vettel fan so was thrilled to get a message from the previous Ferrari driver and four-time world champion, amongst a number of reveals of assist.
“I did get a whole lot of congratulations and good luck messages earlier than the race,” Bearman mentioned. “My favourite one was from Sebastian Vettel — I’m an enormous fan of his for the reason that early days. Even up till he retired I used to be at all times rooting for Seb, so to get a message from him was actually particular. To know that he was sort of watching me placed on a little bit of stress, nevertheless it was a pleasant stress.
“As properly from Stefano Domenicali [F1 CEO and former Ferrari team principal] — he despatched me a very nice message after the race which I used to be actually pleased with. And I bought a hug from Lewis [Hamilton] after the race, that was good that he sort of acknowledged the race for me — that was a proud second for myself.”
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Given the brief time to organize, Bearman says Charles Leclerc’s recommendation on his first day within the automotive was notably useful, whereas additionally revealing how Sainz returned to the monitor on race day to supply assist from the storage.
“It was nice to work with F1 drivers. I wouldn’t think about myself an F1 driver regardless of having finished a race — I’m nonetheless in F2 — and it’s nice to see the extent that they carry out at, that they work at. It’s one thing that I try to have the ability to do.
“To get the ideas from Charles throughout the weekend, particularly in qualifying, however even earlier than the race, and Carlos throughout the race — he was just about guiding me by it by what he noticed within the information and was feeding it to my engineer. It was unbelievable, and it actually helped me pace up the educational course of and rise up to hurry loads faster due to them. So it was superb.”
Regardless of the suggestions from such skilled drivers, there have been nonetheless elements of the race weekend that Bearman had not been ready for, notably the depth of a Method 1 occasion in comparison with Method 2.
“I believe the factor that stunned me most about an F1 weekend was the quantity of admin that goes on. There may be a lot media exercise, a lot extra technical stuff than we’ve in F2. For a race at 8pm I used to be already on the monitor at lunchtime to organize, so the times are very, very lengthy, stuffed with arduous work. That was a shock, however a contented one.
“I believe going by all of the procedures was simpler than I anticipated, primarily as a result of we follow them so many instances on the simulator — which is a big testomony to the simulator at Ferrari, as a result of I used to be capable of bounce straight within the automotive, the entire swap modifications that they requested me to do I used to be capable of do fairly simply. That reveals that the arduous work has been paying off again within the manufacturing facility.
“The troublesome facet was in fact the bodily facet. I anticipated it to be robust, as a result of already in F2 it was a bodily monitor, so leaping as much as F1 I used to be a bit scared. I nearly managed to do it, nevertheless it was an enormous problem.”
