F2 driver Oliver Bearman described how Ferrari called him in as a replacement for Carlos Sainz.
The Spanish driver is out of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after undergoing surgery for appendicitis, and his replacement for the remainder of the weekend is 18-year-old Bearman.
Sainz had missed Wednesday’s media day at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit after feeling unwell, but took part in F1’s Practices 1 and 2 despite struggling with the illness.
However, the number 55 was diagnosed with appendicitis on Friday and was admitted into hospital, missing the second race of the season.
“I got the call pretty late in the day, just a couple of hours before FP3 that I would be doing it,” Bearman said.
“O f course, [these were] not the circumstances in which I would like to make my F1 debut and I wish the best to Carlos and I hope he recovers well, but nonetheless it’s a fantastic opportunity.
“I honestly didn’t have time to get nervous or overthink it because it was so late I literally had to focus straightaway on trying to get up to speed and catch up for lost time.
“Having missed out on Thursday made my life difficult, so I was pretty much flat out with the engineers trying to figure out everything and get up to speed as quickly as possible.”
Bearman qualified 11th for Saturday’s race, missing out on Q3 behind Lewis Hamilton.
“The stars have aligned,” he said. “It has been such a quick progression in my career.
“Two or three years ago I was in F4 still, I only did my first F1 test three or four months ago, so it has been a really quick progression and to make my F1 debut in red, hopefully, it’s a sign of things to come.”