«Sorry». Thus, the first qualification of the new driver ended with 11th place Oliver Bearman, from today – at 18 years and 10 months – the youngest driver to ever drive a Ferrari in Formula 1. Weaned from the Maranello Driver Academy, which signed him in 2021, the English baby found himself catapulted onto the Carlos Sainz's SF-24 – downed by appendicitis and already operated on in Jeddah, should recover for the next GP in two weeks in Australia – just before the last free practice session. After 10th place in the morning, a handful of thousandths behind Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), he was beaten by his compatriot expected in Maranello in 2025 also in qualifying. He was 36 thousandths of a second away from hitting his Q3 target, and his disappointment at the checkered flag was understandable due to a couple of mistakes and just as many kisses on the walls of the Jeddah circuit, not exactly the most comfortable one to debut on. The applause from the Red team's mechanics in the pits was nice: it would be difficult for Bearman, fresh from pole in F2 (obviously he didn't take part in the race), to do more.
The F1 one ended in a monstrosity Max Verstappen, the 34th of his collection, 2nd out of 2 in this start of the World Cup, the first in Jeddah. «We managed to improve the car during the night – said the three-time world champion, who received the pole trophy from the hands of Gianluigi Buffon -, I had more confidence in the high-speed corners. It's really crazy how much you push on this circuit.” Alongside him, for the fourth time in the last five races, will be Charles Leclerc, very good at grabbing the front row at the last moment after having tried, in the first attempt, to prepare the tires for two laps. «It didn't work – admitted Charles, three tenths behind in his Ferrari -, but in the end we managed to put everything together. I think we did our best, we're a little further away from Max than we expected, but the race is tomorrow.” So, a thought for this weekend's two teammates: «First of all, I hope Sainz recovers quickly. As for Oliver, I'm happy for him. He was incredible, he got into the rhythm straight away, he had a very special day. I hope we can have a great race tomorrow.”
We'll see if Charles will be able to attack Verstappen, who at the moment seems stronger than everyone and everything. The Red Bull chaos, started by the “sex-gate” involving team principal Christian Horner, seems not to affect him, despite the turbulence in the team only increasing. The new episode shortly before the hunt for pole, with the super consultant Helmut Marko – very close to the Austrian part of the property – who, speaking to Orf, opened his farewell: «It's a difficult situation to explain – he said -, but in the end I decide I”. As for SuperMax's possible departure, he added: “It would be a huge loss, even for the mechanics and engineers who work for him.” The team allegedly ordered him not to speak to the press anymore. Too late.
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