Damien Smith
A feelgood Formula 1 story? Just what was needed in the circumstances. Thank goodness for young Oliver Bearman.
Two races down, the 2024 season has been a barrel of laughs so far… Two dominant Max Verstappen victories, a pair of Red Bull one-twos and this bizarre scenario in which the sharpest team on the block seems intent on ripping itself apart from the inside.
The power struggle involving Christian Horner, Verstappen’s father Jos, Helmut Marko and Red Bull company ownership factions in Austria and Thailand is a tawdry saga a long way from resolution.
As ever, F1 moves on apace, this weekend to Australia. But the blast of fresh air provided by Bearman’s remarkable F1 debut for, of all teams, Ferrari will hopefully linger and invigorate a sport facing uncomfortable scrutiny.
OLIVER’S TWIST
Essex-born Bearman was planning on making the most of a Formula 2 pole position in Saudi Arabia.
Instead, it was one he never sat on.
Pity poor Carlos Sainz. Gazumped out of his Ferrari drive for 2025 by Lewis Hamilton, at Jeddah he found himself forced to the sidelines by appendicitis. Suddenly a Ferrari reserve was coming off the bench like the F1 equivalent of Liverpool’s teenaged League Cup heroes. You can’t win anything with kids? Don’t ever believe it.
Bearman had no time to think, which was probably just as well. As Sainz recovered in hospital, he was strapped in for final practice, then headed straight into qualifying. That he was disappointed to miss out on Q3 by just 0.036sec was a good sign. How he progressed from there to claim an accomplished seventh in the grand prix was an even better one. Bearman fully deserved the fans’ vote as driver of the day.
RIGHT AT HOME
The good ones always appear at ease from the moment they step up, and Bearman immediately belonged in F1. Avoiding a broken front wing in the midfield melee at the start, and on one of F1’s most difficult tracks, was the first hurdle. He then settled quickly, pulled neat passes on Yuki Tsunoda, Nico Hülkenberg and Guanyu Zhou, then coolly held off a couple of Brits with a touch more experience: Lando Norris and Hamilton, no less. It was a fantastic performance.
“Destroyed” is how Bearman described himself afterwards. “Physically, it was a really difficult race,” he said. “Especially in the end, when I had the two guys on soft tyres behind me. I had to ba
