By Gabriel Araujo
SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Kevin Magnussen will miss the Sao Paulo Grand Prix due to sicknesss with Britain’s Oliver Bearman replacing the Dane for the whole weekend, the Haas Formula One team said on Friday.
Bearman was in impressive form in Friday practice, lapping third fastest, and sprint qualifying at Interlagos with the 19-year-old set to line up 10th for Saturday’s 100km race.
He has already raced for Ferrari and Haas this year as a stand-in and was called up on Friday initially for practice and the sprint.
“Kevin Magnussen will not compete in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and Oliver Bearman will race for the team for the remainder of the weekend,” Haas said in a statement.
Qualifying for Sunday’s grand prix follows the sprint on Saturday.
Magnussen took pole, the only one of his career, at Interlagos in 2022 after George Russell spun off for Mercedes and the weather then deteriorated.
Bearman stood in for Magnussen in Azerbaijan last month, after the Dane was banned for a race, and replaced Carlos Sainz at Ferrari in Saudi Arabia in March after the Spaniard suffered appendicitis.
The 19-year-old scored on both occasions, finishing seventh and 10th respectively.
“Ollie is impressive, considering he’s had minimal preparation, and it was a last-minute call-up,” said team boss Ayao Komatsu.
“His first timed lap in FP1 (practice) was already impressive and then he built from there. His driving in SQ1 (the first sprint qualifying phase) and SQ2 was amazing.
“In SQ3 we had an issue on our side relating to the tyre temperature control box, so the tyres weren’t up to temperature, so the fact he went off in turn two, was not his fault.”
(Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ken Ferris, Susan Fenton and Pritha Sarkar)
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