JEDDAH, March 8 (Reuters) – British teenager Oliver Bearman stepped up for an extraordinary Formula One race debut as Ferrari’s youngest ever rookie after regular driver Carlos Sainz had appendix surgery at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Friday.
Ferrari said Sainz, third in the Bahrain season-opener last weekend and the last driver to beat dominant Red Bull with victory in Singapore last September, was out of surgery and resting in hospital.
Bearman, who will race on Saturday aged 18 years and 306 days, is reserve for Ferrari and Ferrari-powered Haas and would have been competing for the Prema team in Formula Two at the Jeddah Corniche circuit.
The Briton had qualified on pole position for the feature race in the feeder series, his fourth F2 pole, and said afterwards that Jeddah was one of his favourite tracks.
He is the 97th Ferrari Formula One driver and the first to make his debut with the sport’s oldest, most successful and glamorous team since Italian Arturo Merzario in 19
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