08 March 2024 , 11:28
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Ferrari star Carlos Sainz will play no further part in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after being diagnosed with appendicitis.
"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," a statement from Ferrari read.
"Oliver will therefore take no further part in this round of the F2 Championship. The Ferrari family wishes Carlos a speedy recovery."
Sainz was thought to have been battling a stomach bug in the run-up to this weekend's race in Jeddah and missed his media duties on Wednesday. He recovered to take part in the opening two free practice sessions, finishing sixth and seventh in the standings.
The Spaniard was only declared fit moments before Free Practice 1, with the star lamenting one of the toughest days he has endured in the car. Sainz admitted he was unable to push his Ferrari to the 'absolute limit' though insisted that he had a "good feeling".
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“I’ve had a very rough last 24 hours if I’m honest,” said Sainz. “So, happy to manage to do this Thursday and complete the run plan but for sure it’s been my toughest day in a Formula 1 car at such a demanding circuit with high G-Force, and having a stomach bug and being sick is not ideal but hopefully for tomorrow I do a step better and hopefully for Sunday I’m 100% but I need some rest now.
“It was a struggle in FP1 all the way to FP2, especially the long runs when you do some continuous laps, my stomach didn’t really like it you know, at least I got a first feeling with the car even if I couldn’t push it to the absolute limit.
Oliver Bearman will take over from Sainz this weekend (Getty Images)"At least I got a good feeling and was able to feedback to my engineers and this will give me a decent base to work on tomorrow and hopefully tomorrow I can feel better.”
Sainz finished third in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix last week and had been hoping to build on that this weekend in what is his last season with Ferrari. And though he finished in midfield in Free Practice, Sainz insisted he held hopes of challenging Red Bull, hopes that have now been dashed.
“Red Bull keep being strong at this track… Aston seems to have done a good step at this sort of track like they did last year and the Mercs again very, very tight, the McLarens also so it’s a group of five teams there again where we are all very, very close together.
“It’s a tricky track to keep the lap all together especially on the soft tyre which keeps a strange feeling over one lap so I hope we can, out of all those five teams, nail it tomorrow.”
Before being promoted into Sainz's seat, Bearman had taken pole position for the Formula 2 Feature Race. The British star, who is just 18-years-old, finished sixth in the F2 standings last season, winning three feature races and one sprint.