"I think I put in a good showing," says 18-year-old Oliver Bearman after taking F1 by storm and scoring points on his F1 debut.
Amidst the sorry sagas at Milton Keynes and the Place de la Concorde, if ever an F1 fairy-tale were needed this was the time... and there to save the day was Oliver Bearman.
Called up - at three hours notice - to replace Carlos Sainz at Ferrari, the 18-year-old proved more than man enough for the job, missing out on Q3 by the skin of his teeth and leading home Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton in the race.
"I think I put in a good showing for myself, which is the main thing, right?" he said in a masterpiece of understatement at the end of the race. "It's difficult circumstances, not a lot of laps on track. But I think I maximised everything today.
"I lost a lot of time trying to overtake Hulkenberg, who used his experience to keep me back for a few more laps than he should have, so that's my bad. But no, it was a good race.
Pitting under the Safety Car he rejoined in 12th, subsequently passing Yuki Tsunoda and then Guanyu Zhou. However, Nico Hulkenberg proved more of a handful, the German using all his experience to hold off the Ferrari.
Having finally passed the Haas, Bearman found himself behind George Russell where he spent the remainder of the evening.
However, hunting down the youngster was Lando Norris, who was in turn under attack from Lewis Hamilton, and as Bearman voiced obvious concern at the closing pair he was relieved to hear that their battle for position had taken the best out of their (soft) tyres, thereby allowing him to hold on to seventh.
"I felt like I was a bit quicker than Alonso and Russell in front, but not enough to catch them as the gap was pretty big," he told reporters. "I was shocked at how fast we were pushing, getting quicker every lap.
"Physically it was a really difficult race," he admitted. "Especially in the end, when I had the two guys on softs bearing down on me, I had to basically push flat-out. I couldn't relax, I was always in my mirrors pushing flat-out.
"But it was a really exciting and fun race," he grinned. "It required a lot of precision with the walls close like this, but I loved every moment. It was a mentally difficult race as expected, and physically I was struggling too, but great fun out there."
That said, the longest race of his career to date took its toll.
"I think especially my lower back and my neck is hurting," he admitted. "These seats take a bit of fine-tuning, and as this is the first race we didn't really have time to focus on that. Not the most comfortable but I'm happy that we finished quickly. It was good motivation to finish the race quicker."
With Carlos Sainz attending the race following his appendectomy, it is unlikely that the Spaniard will miss the next race in Melbourne, so it is unclear whether Bearman will be back in the Ferrari or F2.
"Carlos is looking well so I am glad he's having a good recovery," he said. "In the end, it's not my decision to make. If he feels good - and I hope he does - he'll be in the car in Melbourne.
"At the end of the day it's his car, it's his championship," he added. "I hope the best for him. It's great to have this opportunity in F1 but my main focus this year is F2. F2 will be a bit less complicated now. I don't have to worry about this battery strategy or anything like that.
"I think F2 is fantastic training, because I felt really prepared. I think you saw from my first lap in final practice that I was straight on the pace, so it's testament to the feeder series for how well they prepare drivers for F1."
"He completely deserves it," said teammate Charles Leclerc, when told that Bearman had been the fans' driver of the day. "He's done an incredible job already from FP3. He was straight on the pace in qualifying. He did a great job and missed Q3 by so little and I think today he's been incredible.
"Obviously having him in the same garage, seeing how he worked and how he approached this whole situation with so much calm was very, very impressive. Obviously with so much excitement as well, but it was really impressive. I think he has shown the whole paddock what he was capable of... I mean seventh in your first race in Formula 1, having done only in FP3 In a new car is just hugely impressive. So I'm sure he's extremely proud but everybody has noticed how talented he is and I guess it's just a matter of time before he comes here in Formula 1."
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