Hamilton: 'If I had done that my career would have looked different'

Oliver Bearman will be nervous. On Saturday night, the 18-year-old Brit will make his Grand Prix debut in Formula 1. And for Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton is impressed by the decision to have the driver who drives for Prema in Formula 2 replace Carlos Sainz, he told Autosport.com.

Sainz needed appendicitis surgery, so Bearman gets his chance to race on behalf of Ferrari. The Brit still put his Formula 2 car in pole position on Thursday. However, he was taken out of the race because of his foray into Ferrari.

When Hamilton was asked whether he could have started at the same age, he replied, "I was 22. 18, where was I, in F3? I was nowhere near ready for F1 at 18. But the times are different. The F2 cars are faster. I definitely wasn't ready. If I had come in at 18, just for me personally, because I wasn't ready, my career might not look how it has. So I'm glad I waited."

However, Hamilton indicates that there are examples where the decision to enter Formula 1 early worked out well. He mentioned Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen. He is also very complimentary about Bearman's performance, even though the seven-time world champion stresses it is going to be very difficult in the race because the junior has not been able to do any long runs.