Vettel sent Bearman 'good luck' message ahead of Saudi F1 debut

With full-time Scuderia driver Carlos Sainz requiring surgery for appendicitis, team reserve driver and FIA F2 racer Bearman was called upon to partner Charles Leclerc from FP3 onwards.

The two-time Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award finalist narrowly missed out on a Q3 appearance in qualifying before lining up in 11^th. He finished the Jeddah contest in seventh – with Leclerc scoring third – after a string of neatly executed overtakes, most notably dummying RB driver Yuki Tsunoda into Turn 1.

Bearman, 18, was sent a string of ‘good luck’ and congratulatory messages over the weekend, including from ex-Ferrari driver and four-time F1 world champion Vettel, who retired from racing with Aston Martin at the end of 2022.

The young Brit said: “I did get a lot of congratulations and also good luck messages before the race.

“My favourite one was from Sebastian Vettel. I’m a huge fan of his since the early days. I was, up until he retired, always routing for Seb. So, to get a message from him was really special.

“To know that he was kind of watching put a bit of pressure on, but it was a nice pressure.”

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, in 2019

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali also got in contact. Bearman added: “He sent me a really nice message after the race, which was really happy.

“And I got a hug from Lewis [Hamilton] as well after the race. That was nice that he kind of recognised the race for me. That was a proud moment for myself.”

Bearman also reckoned getting an insight into the level of “admin” involved in racing in F1 has been a major surprise from his cameo appearance.

He continued: “I think the thing that surprised me the most about an F1 weekend was the amount of admin that goes on – there’s so much media activities, so much more technical stuff than we have in F2.

“So, for a race at 8PM, I was already on track at lunch time to prepare. The days are very, very long, full of hard work. That was a surprise, but a happy one.”

He also praised the accuracy of the Ferrari simulator for allowing him to swiftly adapt to all of the in-car procedures and settings adjustments.