Bearman: 'Stars have aligned' for Ferrari F1 debut

Ferrari reserve driver Oliver Bearman revealed "the stars have aligned" for him to make his F1 debut with the Scuderia.

Carlos Sainz was forced to withdraw from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend after being diagnosed with appendicitis, leaving Bearman to step up from F2, forfeiting 10th on the grid in the Sprint and pole in the Feature race.

Bearman has become the first British driver to line up for Ferrari since Eddie Irvine in 1999 and speaking to media including RacingNews365 about being able to make his debut for the Maranello-based outfit, he said: "The stars have aligned.

"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."

'Late in the day'

Before taking part in FP1 and FP2 on Thursday, Sainz had missed the media day at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Asked if he had been given any warning of a potential stand-in appearance, Bearman - who qualified 11th for the race - replied: "No, I woke up this morning fully prepared and ready for my F2 race starting from P10.

"I got the call pretty late in the day, just a couple of hours before FP3 that I would be doing it - of course 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."