FIA confirm PENALTY verdict for Bearman on F1 Ferrari debut

Oliver Bearman narrowly missed out on Q3 in his F1 debut with Ferrari in Saudi Arabia following his shock promotion to the team.

The 18-year-old, who is the youngest ever British driver to race in the sport, was drafted in to replace Carlos Sainz after he was diagnosed with appendicitis on Friday morning.

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Having taken pole position in F2 the day before, Bearman qualified for Saturday’s F1 race in 11th place having missed out by just three hundredths of a second and would have knocked Lewis Hamilton – the driver who will move to Ferrari next year – out of Q2.

However, despite the incredible achievement from the F2 driver, he did face an investigation from the stewards.

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Bearman investigated by stewards on debut

Bearman was investigated by the FIA for failing to follow the race directors instructions regarding the maximum delta time in Q1.

His in lap was alleged have been too slow leading to an investigation that the stewards came to at the conclusion of at the end of the session.

After the end of Q3, which saw Max Verstappen take pole position, Bearman was cleared by the FIA and will keep his 11th position for the race.

Following the conclusion of Q2, Bearman appeared to be apologetic to his team, saying ‘sorry’ over the radio after being eliminated in 11th.

In the garage, he added: “That was a messy session. Sorry about that.”

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