Oliver Bearman replaces Carlos Sainz for F1 Saudi Arabian GP 2024

Carlos Sainz will take no further part in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend after being diagnosed with appendicitis that requires surgery, with Ferrari reserve driver Oliver Bearman stepping in to replace him.

Sainz had skipped his pre-weekend media duties at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, before taking part in Thursday’s FP1 and FP2 sessions.

Having described the outing as his “toughest” in an F1 car to date, Ferrari confirmed on Friday morning that the Spaniard has been ruled out of action, and that F2 racer Bearman will take his spot alongside Charles Leclerc from FP3 onwards.

The Spaniard had already missed his usual media duties on Wednesday, and was only confirmed as being fit to drive moments before FP1 got under way.

“I’ve had a very rough last 24 hours if I’m honest,” said Sainz. “So, happy to manage to do this Thursday and complete the run plan but for sure it’s been my toughest day in a Formula 1 car at such a demanding circuit with high G-Force, and having a stomach bug and being sick is not ideal but hopefully for tomorrow I do a step better and hopefully for Sunday I’m 100% but I need some rest now.

“It was a struggle in FP1 all the way to FP2, especially the long runs when you do some continuous laps, my stomach didn’t really like it you know, at least I got a first feeling with the car even if I couldn’t push it to the absolute limit.

“At least I got a good feeling and was able to feedback to my engineers and this will give me a decent base to work on tomorrow and hopefully tomorrow I can feel better.”

The official Ferrari post read:

Carlos Sainz has been diagnosed with appendicitis and will require surgery. As from FP3 and for the rest of this weekend, he will be replaced by reserve driver Oliver Bearman. Oliver will therefore take no further part in this round of the F2 Championship. The Ferrari family wishes Carlos a speedy recovery.

Carlos Sainz has been diagnosed with appendicitis and will require surgery. As from FP3 and for the rest of this weekend, he will be replaced by reserve driver Oliver Bearman. Oliver will therefore take no further part in this round of the F2 Championship. The Ferrari family… pic.twitter.com/zePBeZlJED

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) March 8, 2024