Bearman trumps Verstappen, Leclerc and Russell with special feat

Oliver Bearman impressed the F1 world with points in his first grand prix for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia, achieving a feat even the best in the sport have failed to accomplish.

Take a look at how some of the grid's current stars fared in their first races.

Successful debut

Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz performed strongly to reach Q3 at the first time of asking with Toro Rosso in 2015 and despite a failed pit stop, he still managed to finish in the points.

Despite losing a position from where he started the race, Sainz will no doubt have been happy with his two points for ninth.

Charles Leclerc
Sainz's current teammate, Charles Leclerc, made his debut in F1 three years later with Sauber.

He had to settle for 18th place in qualifying in Australia, behind teammate Marcus Ericsson, yet with retirements around him in the race, the Monégasque would climb to 13th, outside of the points.

Three rookies in one race

Lando Norris
A year later, three promising talents came from Formula 2 to the top class of single-seater racing: Lando Norris, Alex Albon and George Russell. Norris is still with McLaren having debuted for the team in 2019. He impressed straight away with P8 in qualifying, while teammate Carlos Sainz was 10 spots behind him.

But in the race, the Briton slipped back to 12th and though this did make him the best rookie, no points were to show for his effort.

Alex Albon
Albon joined Toro Rosso as Daniil Kvyat's teammate and outqualified the more experienced driver.

But roles were reversed in the race and the now-Williams driver finished 14th on debut.

George Russell
Russell spent his first F1 year with Williams - a team that was stuck at the back of the grid.

His goal, in this case, was to beat his teammate and that is what he did comfortably, securing 16th in the race. It was a case of maximising what he had and his talents eventually shone through, with his move to Mercedes coming further down the line.

Dutch success at Monza

Nyck de Vries
Nyck de Vries' F1 debut came in a very similar manner to Bearman as he stepped in at late notice to cover for Albon at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix.

Albon was forced out at Monza with appendicitis, meaning de Vries was called up for FP3 in the Williams.

Qualifying 13th, de Vries started eighth following a number of grid penalties for cars ahead and despite Williams' struggles, the Dutchman held on for ninth - a performance that would lead to a full-time call-up with AlphaTauri.

Oscar Piastri
Australian Oscar Piastri knows better than anyone how a first race in Formula 1 can be a nightmare.

McLaren began last season on the back foot and, starting from 18th, technical problems hit in the first third of the event and forced an early retirement. Fortunes did, however, improve later in the year for Piastri.

P5 in Australia

Felipe Nasr
The odd man out is Brazilian Felipe Nasr.

He is the rookie with the best result in an F1 race since 2015, with Bearman slotting into second on that list.

Nasr, who is now plying his trade in sportscar racing, finished a sublime fifth for Sauber in 2015 following a stunning drive at Albert Park.

Max Verstappen
At 17 years and 166 days old, Max Verstappen was at the start of his first race in Formula One, the 2015 Australian Grand Prix. He set his Toro Rosso in 12th place during qualifying and for a long time seemed to be on his way to points.

Max Verstappen made his debut aged just 17, alongside Sainz at Toro Rosso, and was able to qualify 12.

A strong start seemed certain to put the now-three time champion on course for points, only for the Renault engine in his car to expire and leave Verstappen powerless to resist retirement.

It should be noted that the vast majority of drivers make their debuts at teams where it is not common to score many points. Had Verstappen in his Toro Rosso, Leclerc in his Sauber or Russell in the Williams of the time picked up points during their debuts, it would have been truly sensational.

That is in no way to the detriment of Bearman's performance, given he was such a late call-up for Sainz at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit

View below in the table the results of debutants in Formula 1 since 2015.