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Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz will miss the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after being diagnosed with appendicitis following Thursday’s practice.
He will be replaced by Ferrari’s reserve driver, 18-year-old Oliver Bearman, who will compete in Formula 2 this weekend in Saudi Arabia.
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Sainz missed Wednesday’s press day in Jeddah after feeling down and, ahead of his diagnosis, finished a limited number of educational sessions on Thursday with the aim of saving strength ahead of qualifying on Friday and Saturday’s race.
However, ahead of Friday’s final free practice session, Ferrari revealed that Sainz had been diagnosed with appendicitis, which required surgery that would rule him out for this weekend’s event.
Bearman, who will make his F1 debut replacing Sainz, was appointed Ferrari’s reserve driver in January this year.
The British driver joined Ferrari’s driver academy in 2021 and took part in his first F1 test sessions with the Haas F1 team in Mexico and Abu Dhabi last year. On January 31 of this year he took part in a Ferrari test with a two-year-old car in Spain.
On Thursday, Bearman qualified from pole position for this weekend’s main F2 race, but will not compete again for the remainder of the F2 weekend in order to be fully in F1.
He will be the first driver to make his F1 debut with Ferrari since Arturo Merzario made his debut for the Italian team at the 1972 British Grand Prix.
The 18-year-old is Ferrari’s 97th driver in Formula 1 and the first to debut with the sport’s oldest, most successful and most glamorous team since Italy’s Arturo Merzario at the 1972 British Grand Prix.
Bearman took to the track on Friday for final practice with the number 38 on his car, a number that has appeared 12 times in the past on a Ferrari and whose most prominent users include Britain’s first champion, Mike Hawthorn.
Hawthorn earned his name with Ferrari in 1958.
“Carlos is no longer undergoing surgery. Everything has gone well and he is now resting in the hospital. We send him all our help for a speedy recovery,” Ferrari said in a statement on Friday.
Reuters reported on the report.