Leclerc praises Oliver Bearman’s debut: ‘Incredible’

Charles Leclerc finished qualifying in second place behind Max Verstappen in Saudi Arabia. The Monegasque driver was happy with his lap, but hoped to be closer to Verstappen. He also praised his new teammate, who got the call for this weekend after Carlos Sainz had to undergo a surgery.

Immediately after qualifying at Jeddah, Charles Leclerc commented on the young Oliver Bearman’s performance. "First of all I hope Carlos will recover quickly. Then on Ollie's side, he has done an incredible job. With only one session in FP3 he was straight up to speed and comfortable with the car, so it's good."

He added: "I'm happy for him obviously. It's a very special day and the first race in Ferrari having only done one session I guess is even more special. I hope tomorrow we can both have a great race and score strong points for the team."

'We want to surprise Red Bull'

Leclerc was happy with his lap after the during the session he reported his car felt weird on his new set of soft tyres. "The first lap in Q3 we tried something different doing a preparation lap but that didn't work out well for us. Then in the second lap I put everything together and that's what was in the car today."

The Ferrari driver wishes that they were closer to Red Bull this evening, but hopes he will have a chance during the race. "I am really happy with the lap, a shame that we are a bit further away than what we hoped in qualifying, but tomorrow is the race and I hope we have a good surprise and can challenge the Red Bulls."