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The Englishman was a last-minute replacement when Carlos Sainz was struck down with appendicitis on Friday morning.
The Ferrari Driver Academy member was plucked from Formula 2 to step in for the Spaniard just hours ahead of Free Practice 3.
It was a daunting task around the ultrafast Jeddah Corniche circuit, but one the 18-year-old rose to.
Having qualified 11th on Friday night, he raced his way to a sublime fifth, finishing ahead of Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton in the process.
“It is weird to not watch a Formula 1 race, and it is probably the first Formula 1 race I haven’t watched for a long time,” he admitted.
“It was a great race. Hamilton and Norris boxed, and I saw a car behind me from the pits, so I thought they were going to come pretty quickly,” he added.
“But eventually, I don’t think the soft was performing as they expected, and eventually they stabilised two and a half seconds behind me.
“With five laps to go, I knew if I kept it clean then I could stay ahead.”
Bearman started well, holding position until he pitted under the Safety Car when Lance Stroll crashed out.
He then progressively moved through the field, beginning with a neat move on Yuki Tsunoda at the restart.
“On the restart, I did a pretty good move on Tsunoda, and I don’t think he expected me to go on the inside,” he recalled.
“I had a lot more pace than these guys and they were just a bit smarter than me with energy usage, which is something I’ve never had to do before.
“I was pretty much learning on the job. Especially with Nico [Hulkenberg], he seemed to use his battery in all the right places, and I seemed to use it in all the wrong places, so it took me a few laps to figure it out.
“Once you do a lap and drain the pack, you have to wait another one to get back up there.
“I was a bit inefficient with my pass on Nico, but I think the good thing I can take from that is that I stayed disciplined and didn’t try to over push.”
His performance earned him the Driver of the Day vote and has seen his stock rise sharply within the F1 paddock, where he was already considered a front-runner for a drive with Haas in 2025.
The Saudi Arabia performance is unlikely to accelerate that timeline, the teenager’s focus returning now to his Formula 2 campaign as Sainz is expected to return for the Australian GP in two weeks.
“I don’t think I’ll be in Formula 1 for the rest of the year,” Bearman conceded.
“That was my goal, to do a great showing this weekend. I think I did a decent job, so that is alright.
“That is all I can do, keep pushing in Formula 2 and cross my fingers.”
Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur was impressed by the Brit’s performance but stressed that his short-term future remained in F2.
“The best way to help him is not to draw a conclusion today,” Vasseur said.
“We have to take it easy, that he will have another opportunity during the season to do FP1, to test the car, and we will do it properly.
“The main focus is and will stay the F2 this season he has a huge challenge.
“I will keep in mind also that he did the pole position, and we killed the weekend for him in F2! But he has a huge challenge in F2, and it’s the first challenge of the season.”
However, he equally didn’t downplay the enormity of Bearman’s performance.
“It’s a mega weekend from Ollie,” he said
“You know the story: we called him, was something like 2pm on Friday I think, to jump into the car for FP3.
“It’s not Barcelona, we are in Jeddah, the challenge was mega and he had a very good FP3, he was doing step-by-step. Quali he missed Q3 by a couple of hundred thousands.
“The race today I was a bit nervous as you have so many things to manage in F1 with the starting procedure, with the pit stop, the steering wheel and so on.
“It was not an easy one and at the end of the day, it went very well.
“If you have a look, he was even able to push in the last lap to keep Lando and Lewis behind him,” he added.
“I was even surprised myself to push a little bit more from the pit wall and not be conservative as he was not doing mistakes a this stage.”
Formula 2 is back in action in Melbourne, where it will support Formula 1 at the Australian Grand Prix on March 22-24.
