Oliver Bearman said he “loved every moment” driving the SF-24 F1 car in replacement of Carlos Sainz for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Bearman started the weekend with great results in Formula 2 but was then called for Formula 1 duties after Scuderia Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was diagnosed with appendicitis.
Sainz already underwent surgery and is recovering well, and even watched the GP from the Ferrari pitwall.
Bearman took control of the number 55 car from Practice 3 and qualified 11th for Saturday’s race, missing out on Q3 by a tiny margin.
Then, the Briton charged through the field and achieved a P7 finish during the GP, scoring 6 points in the F1 World Championship.
Speaking with the media afterward, Bearman said he “loved every moment, but the weekend was too short.”
“I think I did a good job out there today.”
When asked if there’s a chance he will drive at the Australian Grand Prix as Sainz recovers from surgery, the 18-year-old said that the Spaniard “is looking well,” and that “if he feels good, and I hope he does, then he’ll be in the car in Melbourne.”
“And, you know, at the end it’s his car, it’s his championship, so I hope the best for him.”
About his preparedness for F1, Bearman said he thinks “F2 was, first of all, fantastic training, because I felt really well prepared.”
“I think you saw my first lap in FP3, I was pretty much straight on the pace. So, a testament to the feeder series for how well it prepares drivers to jump into F1.
“But I think the crazy thing was in the race, how hard you would push. Especially those last ten laps, when I had the guys behind me on soft [compound tires], I was basically doing quali-lap after quali-lap after quali-lap. It was fantastic.”
To conclude, Bearman said that, despite his great performance on his first-ever F1 race, he’s focused on the F2 championship.
“It’s great to have [had] this opportunity in F1, but my main focus, of course, this year is F2.
“But I hope I did a good job interview today.”