‘He’s a diva already’ – F1 commentator reacts to unique Ferrari demand from Essex teenager Oliver Bearman

Formula 1 commentator David Croft jokingly called Oliver Bearman a diva for a demand he made during his Ferrari debut.

Bearman, at just 18 years old, is deputising behind the wheel for Carlos Sainz who has been ruled out of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The Brit rookie had expected to line up in Jeddah in Formula 2, having qualified in pole position on Thursday.

Yet Sainz's need for emergency surgery saw Ferrari move quickly to install Bearman as their youngest-ever driver for the weekend.

Bearman showed no signs of nerves in the SF-24 as he took to the track with Scuderia teammate Charles Leclerc in FP3.

Bearman's engineer had told him: "Take your time in the car, take your rhythm and build up from there!"

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But the Essex-born driver quickly went fastest with a 1:30.277 on medium tyres - ahead of Mercedes' British compatriots Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, who both set laps on softs.

Ferrari had to work fast to adapt Sainz's car to Bearman's needs, and the teen was quick to assert his opinions as he pulled into the pits.

Speaking on team radio, Bearman said: "I hate these things on my headrest, they are too thick, can we maybe put the thinner ones?"

His unique demand saw Crofty, the voice of F1, quickly but in to joke: "Diva already - he's done seven laps and he's a diva already!"

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Bearman ultimately delivered an impressive showing in FP3, either side of a red flag issued by Sauber's Zhou Guanyu crashing.

The Chelmsford racer finished tenth on the timings sheet, ending up just 0.038 slower than seven-time world champion Hamilton.

Bearman's Ferrari teammate Leclerc showed he would be challenging for pole as he split Red Bull pair Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.