Oliver Bearman almost ‘missed’ Ferrari F1 debut after phone credit mishap

Oliver Bearman reflected on his shock Ferrari debut at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which was not helped by his manager running out of phone credit!

Carlos Sainz had completed the opening two practice sessions in Jeddah, but his race weekend ended there with the Ferrari driver undergoing surgery to remove his appendix. That opened the door for an 18-year-old Oliver Bearman – part of the Ferrari Driver Academy – to step up and make his debut.

Oliver Bearman almost ‘missed’ Ferrari F1 debut with manager out of credit

Bearman was already in Jeddah on Formula 2 duties and had put his Prema on pole. And after seeing Sainz contest the Friday practice running, Bearman thought a standard F2 weekend was to come.

Asked during the Beyond the Grid podcast if Ferrari had told him to be ready, Bearman replied: “Well before FP1, I headed over there just to kind of catch up with the guys and see how everything was going.

“But after he drove in FP1 and FP2, and I’d done the pole in F2, I was just thinking, ‘Okay, it’s going to be a normal weekend. Let’s get back to work on F2 and focus on the important things’.

“And even the next day, it was Friday morning, I was getting ready to start 10th in the sprint race, because it’s a reverse grid. I was sitting down for lunch when the call came.

“The second the name came up, I knew what was going to be said.”

Bearman confirmed that it was Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur whose name came up, Bearman thankfully having credit left on his phone as his manager had been the first point of contact, but he had run out.

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Asked what Vasseur said, Bearman responded: “Well, first of all, he called my manager, but my manager ran out of credit on this phone or something. So I almost missed the race because my manager didn’t top up his minutes!

“But then I called Fred back, because I had enough data thank God, and he told me the news. He told me that I would be racing for Ferrari this weekend.

“And I think he understood pretty quickly that I was getting really nervous from the way I was speaking to him. He was like, ‘Ollie, calm down. It’s going be okay’.

“I remember telling him that ‘I’ll be at the track, I’ll be there in like 10 minutes Fred!’ And my hotel was like half an hour away from the track. But I didn’t want to miss it, you know, like, I wanted to get there and make sure I could do it.

“So, yeah, those like three hours between getting the call and jumping in the car for FP3 [snaps fingers], went by like this.”

Bearman would impress on his F1 debut, claiming a P7 finish in the Ferrari SF-24. He made a second super sub appearance in Baku – this time with Haas – after Kevin Magnussen picked up a one-race ban for accumulating 12 FIA Super Licence penalty points. Bearman scored a point in P10 .

And Bearman will step up to a full-time race seat with Haas for F1 2025, where he will partner Esteban Ocon.

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