Vasseur warns against Bearman conclusions after F1 debut

Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur has insisted that conclusions over Oliver Bearman's Formula 1 future can't be drawn in direct response to his Grand Prix debut.

Bearman replaced Carlos Sainz at Ferrari in Saudi Arabia after the Spaniard was diagnosed with appendicitis.

The Briton had just a single practice session to get up to speed before qualifying and narrowly missed out on a Q3 spot to line up on the grid in 11th.

Bearman enjoyed a strong race and rose to P7 at the chequered flag, securing six points for Ferrari.

The 18-year-old was pulled out of the Formula 2 weekend in Jeddah to drive for Ferrari after taking pole position the day before his promotion.

When asked by RacingNews365 if a 2025 F1 seat is now more likely for Bearman following his debut, Vasseur said: “The best way to help him is not to draw a conclusion today.

“We have to take it easy, that he will have another opportunity during the season to do FP1, to test the car, we will do it properly.

“The main focus is and will stay the 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 'surprised' to ask Bearman to push

Bearman's seventh place result was challenged by late stops for Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton who switched to the Soft compound after running deep into the race.

Vasseur commended Bearman for navigating the pressure of the chasing duo through a challenging circuit layout in Jeddah.

“It’s a mega weekend from Ollie,” he said. “You know the story: we called him, was something like 2 PM on Friday I think, to jump into the car for FP3.

“It's not Barcelona, we are in Jeddah, the challenge was mega and he had a very good FP3, he was doing step-by-step. Quali he missed Q3 by a couple of hundred thousands.

“The race today I was a bit nervous as you have so 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 and Lewis 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.”