Oliver Bearman says 36-year-old F1 driver is ‘so slow’ during Saudi GP

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Ferrari stand-in Oliver Bearman complained about the pace of one of his F1 competitors during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Saturday.

Bearman won driver of the day in Jeddah after progressing from his 11th-place grid slot to seventh.

Ferrari called up their junior driver, who had been on pole for the F2 race, after Carlos Sainz was hospitalised with appendicitis.

Bearman very nearly knocked out seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in Q2, finishing just a few hundredths adrift.

Then, in the early stages of Saturday’s race, he gained a place when Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll crashed out.

Bearman subsequently passed the Visa Cash App RB car of Yuki Tsunoda and the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg.

In the closing stages, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes’ Hamilton closed in after bolting on a set of soft tyres, but the teenager held onto seventh.

Oliver Bearman laments Nico Hulkenberg struggle in Saudi Arabia

Speaking over the team radio during the race, Bearman expressed frustration as he struggled to get past Hulkenberg.

The German was one of four drivers who stayed out when Stroll brought out the safety car, which meant that he was running on older medium compound tyres at the time.

“Mate, he’s so slow,” Bearman told his Ferrari team on lap 20 out of 50.

Soon after, the 18-year-old was able to execute a DRS assisted pass on 36-year-old Hulkenberg on the start/finish straight.

Bearman wins praise for Saudi GP racecraft

During Sky Sports F1’s coverage of the race, pundit Karun Chandhok hailed Bearman’s tactics in his pursuit of Tsunoda.

He noticed that the Briton was taking a different line to the Japanese driver in order to minimise the dirty air.

Elsewhere, BBC F1 pundit Jack Aitken praised the manner in which he defended from Hulkenberg’s teammate Kevin Magnussen.

It remains to be seen whether Ferrari will also call upon Bearman to race in the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in a fortnight’s time.

Sainz is recovering from a procedure but was seen in the paddock on the race day.