Sergio Perez has now revealed the one thing that Oliver Bearman made the Red Bull driver ‘realise’ about Ferrari with his shock Formula 1 debut in the Saudi Arabian GP.
The Scuderia had to hastily usher Bearman into the SF-24 in Jeddah this March when Carlos Sainz was diagnosed with appendicitis. Sainz initially fought through the pain to take part in practice for the Saudi Arabian GP. But Ferrari had to turn to their reserve driver before FP3.
Bearman was only in Jeddah to continue his Formula 2 campaign for Prema and earned pole position for the Feature race. Yet the 19-year-old had to abandon his junior series title bid to stand in for Sainz. In doing so, Bearman became the youngest driver to race for Ferrari in F1.
Sergio Perez feels Oliver Bearman’s Saudi Arabian GP debut proved Ferrari are ‘very strong’
Only 0.036 seconds even denied Bearman a spot in Q3 as Lewis Hamilton snuck into the top 10 in qualifying for the 2024 Saudi Arabian GP at the Ferrari reserve driver’s expense. But he finished the race as the second-best British racer with P7 to score six points on his F1 debut.
Seeing Bearman score points on his Ferrari debut even made Red Bull star Perez realise how competitive the Scuderia’s car is this year. Sainz had ended the season-opening Bahrain GP in third place for Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc in fourth, as Perez rose from his P5 start to P2.
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Perez now says he thinks Red Bull’s rivals did not get the most out of their cars at the start of the season. But Bearman producing a smart drive to withstand pressure and finish the Saudi Arabian GP ahead of Hamilton and Lando Norris showed Perez that Ferrari have a strong car.
“We came from many races where many teams did not get the most out of their cars,” Perez told Marca. “But I realised that Ferrari were very strong in Jeddah. When Bearman got into the car and did that race, you already knew that Ferrari have a very strong car.
“But the same [can be said about] McLaren. Everything is very tight, there is a lot of fighting and it is good to have this kind of level.”
McLaren and Ferrari have made it ‘very tight’ for Red Bull
Red Bull largely held a strong advantage over their rival teams during the opening rounds of the 2024 season. Max Verstappen led Perez home for a Red Bull one-two at the Bahrain GP, the Saudi Arabian GP and the Japanese GP. Just Sainz’s Australian GP win broke their streak.
Verstappen may have denied Sainz glory in Melbourne without suffering a brake issue after three laps, as well. The Dutchman won in Sakhir by 22.457 seconds and 25.110s to Sainz. He also won in Jeddah with an 18.639s margin over Leclerc as the highest non-Red Bull finisher.
But, as Perez says, the Formula 1 field is now ‘very tight’ at the front with Norris winning the Miami GP for McLaren and Leclerc winning the Monaco GP for Ferrari. Verstappen also only beat Norris by 0.725s to win the Emilia Romagna GP and by 3.869s to win the Canadian GP.
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