Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur warned against drawing conclusions after Oliver Bearman’s Formula 1 debut with the Scuderia at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Bearman replaced appendicitis-struck Carlos Sainz, who was out of the GP after surgery.
The Briton from the Ferrari Academy finished 7th, scoring 6 points in the F1 World Championship, as well as earning Driver of the Day for his immense efforts.
However, despite a great debut, team principal Vasseur asked to not draw accelerated conclusions about Bearman’s future.
“The best way to help him is not to draw a conclusion today,” he told the media after the race.
“We have to take it easy, that he will have another opportunity during the season to do FP1, to test eh car, we will do it properly.
“The main focus [for him] is [to stay in] F2 this season. He has a huge challenge.
“I will keep in mind also that he was on pole position, and we killed the weekend for him in F2. But he has a huge challenge in F2, and it’s the first challenge of the season.”
Vasseur said that the challenge for Bearman around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit was “mega,” as it is a physical, high-speed circuit that pushes drivers to the limit.
“[During] the race I was a bit nervous as you have many things to manage in F1 with the starting procedure, with the pit stop, the steering wheel and so on.
“It was not an easy one and at the end of the day, it went very well.
“If you have a look, he was even able to push in the last lap to keep Lando [Norris] and Lewis [Hamilton] behind him.
“I was even surprised myself to push a little bit more from the pit wall and not be conservative as he was not doing mistakes at this stage.”