Prema Racing’s Ollie Bearman stormed to pole position in Jeddah on Thursday, completing a phenomenal turnaround from a week ago in Bahrain when he qualified 18th. 

By Steven Walton

Bearman went quickest in FIA Formula 2’s 30-minute qualifying session in Jeddah on Thursday, beating Invicta Racing’s Kush Maini to pole position by just 0.025 seconds.

The result comes a week after Bearman and Prema Racing struggled immensely at the season opener in Bahrain. For that race, Bearman was only quick enough to qualify 18th, and he was more than a second slower than the pole lap.

“Bahrain was, of course, playing on my mind, it was a really difficult one,” Bearman told Feeder Series in a press conference with selected media after qualifying.

“I had confidence, but maybe pole seemed a bit far-fetched after last weekend, but I was confident that I could at least be in the top five, P1 is nice though.”

‘We’ve turned it around’

Bearman said he thought Prema was “back to normal.”

He said he had a better feeling with his car right from the start of the 45-minute practice session on Thursday, describing it as “like being back in the old car.”

Bearman said Bahrain and Jeddah were very different tracks, explaining that Bahrain was very rough, and it had not suited Prema in the past. 

He said Jeddah has typically been a stronger track for the Italian team. Last year, Bearman qualified on the front row, and his then-teammate, Frederik Vesti, won the feature race.

“Bahrain was particularly tough this year, especially on qualifying day, but yeah, I’m happy that we’ve turned it around and gone back to a good performance here in Jeddah,” he said.

Main goal for the sprint

Bearman told Feeder Series his main goal in Friday’s sprint race will be to finish it, something he wasn’t able to do in Jeddah last year.

Bearman’s 2023 sprint race ended on lap seven when Théo Pourchaire botched an overtake and smashed into the side of him at turn one.

“I was still very new to F2 and missing the [sprint] race, it’s really difficult,” Bearman said. “I didn’t really know what I needed from the car. So when we turned up [for the feature race], you know, we were kinda just taking a shot in the dark, and in the end, it didn’t really work.”

Bearman told Feeder Series his goal for Friday’s sprint race “will be just to get the laps in and feel the car underneath me and give myself experience for the day after.”

He said, “I have no doubt we can be strong in the feature race on Saturday.”

Header photo credit: Prema Racing