Karun Chandhok makes Lewis Hamilton claim praising ‘cracking’ F1 rival at Saudi Arabian GP

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Karun Chandhok has praised Oliver Bearman for a ‘cracking’ qualifying debut as an F1 driver after he narrowly missed out on Q3 at the Saudi Arabian GP to Lewis Hamilton.

The 18-year-old got a last-gasp promotion to the pinnacle of motorsport on Friday as Ferrari scuttled to replace Carlos Sainz. A seat in the Scuderia garage suddenly became available to Bearman ahead of FP3 after Sainz was diagnosed with appendicitis and he required surgery.

Sainz underwent a successful operation on Friday at the King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital. While Bearman jumped from taking pole position for the Formula 2 Feature race to driving for Ferrari in Formula 1. The Briton became one of the Scuderia’s reserve drivers in January.

Oliver Bearman is to be Britain’s and Ferrari’s youngest F1 race driver

Bearman has been a part of the Ferrari Driver Academy since the end of 2021, and he joined Antonio Giovinazzi and Robert Shwartzman as Sainz and Charles Leclerc’s understudies. But the Chelmsford native is now due to be the youngest British and Ferrari driver to race in F1.

He will debut as a Formula 1 race driver at the Saudi Arabian GP this Saturday. Bearman had already entered FP1 sessions at the 2023 Mexico City GP and Abu Dhabi GP for Haas. He will also start the Jeddah Corniche Circuit race from P11 on the grid with Leclerc starting second.

Karun Chandhok praised Oliver Bearman’s Saudi Arabian GP qualifying

Bearman impressed Chandhok in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian GP on Friday as the Ferrari reserve missed out on a spot in Q3 by just 0.036 seconds to Mercedes icon Hamilton. He set a 1:28.642 in Q2 compared to the 1:28.606 that the seven-time champion set to get into Q3.

“That’s a great effort,” Chandhok said on Sky Sports F1 (8/3, 17:45). “To be 36-thousandths behind Lewis Hamilton, that’s a cracking effort by Ollie Bearman on his first ever qualifying.”

Leclerc showed what the VF-24 was capable of producing in Q2 to put one Ferrari in the top 10 shootout. The 26-year-old posted a 1:28.112 lap in the second phase of qualifying for the Saudi Arabian GP. Leclerc improved his time in Q3 with a 1:27.791 to get second on the grid.