2024 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Highlights

Scuderia Ferrari leaves the 2024 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix celebrating a first podium finish of the season for Charles Leclerc at the end of a pretty solitary race for third place, while Oliver Bearman had a dream debut. The team’s reserve driver, a product of the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy, began his weekend as a Formula 2 driver and ended it as the 97th driver to race for Ferrari in a Formula 1 Grand Prix. He is now also the 61st to score points at the wheel of a Prancing Horse car, thanks to a brilliant drive to seventh place.

At 18 years and 305 days, the Englishman was the youngest driver to make his debut at the wheel of a Ferrari, and along with Charles, this was the first event in which the Scuderia had fielded two alums from its Academy. They are also the youngest pairing, with an average age of 22 years and 224 days – Charles is 26 and 144 days old. That beats the record set by Chris Amon and Jacky Ickx at the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix. Today’s result, even in terms of points scored, shows that the Scuderia is currently second in the pecking order, which is very positive and confirms the progress made compared to the start of last season. However, there is work to do to catch Red Bull, which still has a clear advantage. When discussing Ferrari stars tonight in Jeddah, one must also mention Carlos Sainz. Following an appendectomy on Friday afternoon, the Spaniard felt well enough to come to the track and watch proceedings from the garage. He looked at the screens that would usually have shown his progress—a great example of Scuderia team spirit.

Oliver Bearman #38

What a great experience and opportunity to have my first Formula 1 race with Scuderia Ferrari. It was physically demanding, especially when Lando (Norris) and Lewis (Hamilton) were behind me on Softs. I had to push flat out to maintain the gap and stay focused, constantly checking my mirrors. It was a shame that the Safety Car came out so early, as I was comfortable on the Softs, but of course, it was the right call to pit then, and I’m thrilled with the result.

I’m confident I maximised everything today and had great fun out there. I’ll never forget this weekend. Thank you to the whole team for their support and for giving me the chance to race.

Charles Leclerc #16

We maximised our potential today and couldn’t have done better than this. We struggled a bit on the Mediums. The Hards were tricky at first but improved throughout the stint, and I could set the fastest lap on them with some help from DRS. All in all, I felt good in the car.

Ollie did an exceptional job this weekend. It is impressive to see someone get up to speed so quickly when you get into a Formula 1 car starting from FP3 when you don’t know the car, and the track is one of the most challenging of the season. Seeing him so happy and excited all weekend was super nice, and he’s done a great job.

Frédéric Vasseur – Team Principal

With Charles today, I think we paid the price a little bit in the first part of the race of not being in clean air. Unfortunately, after the pit stop, he lost time with Lando Norris, so he could not get close enough to Sergio Perez to try and make the most of the five-second penalty handed out to the Mexican. Overall, Charles produced a solid race, and when he had a clear track ahead of him, he matched the pace of the Red Bulls to the extent that he set the fastest lap at the very end. We have to put our rivals under pressure if we want to beat them, and today, we didn’t manage it. The good news is that we have made progress regarding the tyres and had minimal degradation.

As for Ollie, I didn’t have any specific expectations, given the circumstances that led to him being in the car. And yet, he managed these two days amazingly well, almost like a veteran. There were no problems with his start or at the pit stop, which were all new to him. He was always calm and precise with his feedback over the radio, and gradually, his confidence in the car grew so that, towards the end, he managed to keep two great drivers, Lando (Norris) and Lewis (Hamilton), behind him.

It was nice that Carlos could join us at the track today, just over 24 hours after his operation, and we hope he will be able to race in Australia. If nothing else, this weekend has taught us that if the need arises again, we have a reserve driver who is very much up to the task.

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