Oliver Bearman, 18, will make shock debut for Ferrari at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as Carlos Sainz undergoes emergency surgery for appendicitis - with English teenager to become the youngest British F1 racer in history

English teenager Oliver Bearman will become the youngest British F1 racer in history by making his shock debut for Ferrari at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend.

The 18-year-old will take part in qualifying tomorrow, replacing Carlos Sainz who has gone down with appendicitis.

Bearman will become the youngest British Formula One competitor and also the 12th Briton to drive for Ferrari and the first Englishman since Nigel Mansell in 1990. 

The 6ft 3in teenager, from Chelmsford in Essex, currently drives in Formula Two and is Ferrari's reserve driver.

He previously made history last October as the youngest British driver to take part in a Fprmula One session - a free practice session at the Mexican Grand Prix, when he was loaned by Ferrari to Haas.

Oliver Bearman, 18, will make his shock debut for Ferrari in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Bearman was watching on today as a seat fitting was carried out in the Ferrari garage in Jeddah

The whole of Oliver's family will be cheering him on as he makes his historic debut this week

The Ferrari team confirmed his F1 debut in this weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

The official F1 account on X posted: 'Ollie Bearman's F1 dream is set to come true.'

The tweet was accompanied by a photo of Bearman from 2014 when he was eight and another of him now. 

Berman won both the ADAC Formula 4 and Italian Formula 4 titles in 2021 then came third – only seven points off champion Victor Martins – in his debut Formula 3 campaign in 2022.

His latest breakthrough comes as Ferrari today posted a statement on X, formerly Twitter, confirming Sainz's diagnosis.

It has been a whirlwind 24 hours for Bearman, who only yesterday captured pole position for the F2 race in Jeddah - but will now be in the F1 Grand Prix instead.  

Ferrari's post said: 'Carlos Sainz has been diagnosed with appendicitis and will require surgery.

'As from FP3 and for the rest of this weekend, he will be replaced by reserve driver Oliver Bearman. Oliver will therefore take no further part in this round of the F2 Championship. The Ferrari family wishes Carlos a speedy recovery.'

Sainz, who finished seventh in FP2 on Thursday, admitted that he had been struggling at the end of the day. 

He said: 'Obviously a very difficult day after feeling sick the last 24 hours have been tough and difficult for me.

'Today was all about trying to get myself on track and learn as much as possible from the car without really pushing too much the limits as I was still a bit on the non-ideal side, but we managed to complete the programme without issues.'

Oliver Bearman proudly shows he has passed his driving test before his F1 career took off

Oliver Bearman, from Chelmsford in Essex, captured pole when racing in the F2 yesterday 

Bearman will now replace Ferrari team-mate in the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Last October Bearman became the youngest British driver to take part in a Formula One session, loaned by Ferrari to Haas for a free practice session at the Mexican Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz will miss the weekend as he needs to undergo surgery for appendicitis

Sainz battled through illness to get behind the wheel for Thursday's two practice sessions

18-year-old Bearman will become the youngest British Formula one competitor in history

Sainz, who will be leaving Ferrari at the end of the season with Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton taking his seat next year, finished third in the season opener in Bahrain behind the two Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

Sainz was also the last driver to beat the Red Bull cars and take the chequered flag at the Singapore Grand Prix last year.

Ferrari did not say when he would return, with the next race on the calendar being the Australian Grand Prix in two weeks' time.

Alex Albon also had appendicitis ahead of the Italian Grand Prix in 2022, which saw Nyck de Vries take his place in the Williams car, but the Thai driver returned for the following race in Singapore.