Hamilton and Verstappen snubbed as ‘no one is better’ than 26-y/o F1 driver in key area

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BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer Andrew Benson believes ‘no one is better’ in Formula 1 than Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc at pulling out a ‘big lap’ at the end of qualifying.

The 26-year-old drew Benson’s praise while he acknowledged the challenge Oliver Bearman faced during his F1 qualifying debut on Friday. Ferrari rushed to replace Carlos Sainz after he was diagnosed with appendicitis. The Spaniard also required successful emergency surgery.

Bearman was in Jeddah already to compete in Formula 2 with Prema and had even secured pole position for the Feature race. But the 18-year-old stepped up at very short notice with one practice session to qualify in P11 for the Saudi Arabian GP with Leclerc securing second.

Andrew Benson names Charles Leclerc as F1’s best last-gasp qualifier

Benson believed Bearman just getting ‘respectably close’ to Leclerc’s times in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian GP would be an achievement for his Ferrari and Formula 1 debut. Other than two FP1 sessions for Haas in 2023, Bearman had not driven in an official F1 weekend.

Bearman, ultimately, missed out on a spot in Q3 by only 0.036 seconds to Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes. He posted a 1:28.642 in Q2, compared to the 1:28.112 that Leclerc achieved. But it was always a tough ask for Bearman to match Leclerc as he is F1’s best last-ditch qualifier.

“[Bearman] will want to get respectably close to Leclerc and he knows that no one is better than Leclerc at pulling that big lap out at the end of the session,” Benson said on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra (8/3, 17:37).

Charles Leclerc has taken the 14th-most pole positions in Formula 1

Leclerc ranks 14th all-time for pole positions in Formula 1 with 23 to his name through 127 Grand Prix entries. He achieved five of those last year after a personal best of nine in 2022. But the Monegasque has failed to convert either of Leclerc’s last 12 poles into the race win.

Finishing qualifying 0.319 seconds away from Red Bull racer Max Verstappen’s pole position time at the Saudi Arabian GP may leave Leclerc wondering when his next P1 start will come. But the 26-year-old has shown he can extract the most from his car to earn Benson’s praise.

Verstappen, meanwhile, now ranks fifth outright after taking his 34th career pole position in Jeddah. The 26-year-old was level with Jim Clark and Alain Prost following his 33rd pole last week at the Bahrain GP. Hamilton holds the all-time record for pole positions in F1 with 104.