Lewis Hamilton believes teenager Oliver Bearman has a “bright future” in the sport after his impressive F1 debut at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last weekend. He replaced Carlos Sainz at late notice after he was diagnosed with appendicitis and required surgery.

The 18-year-old performed better than expected, coming home in seventh as the youngest British driver to start an F1 race. Hamilton, who will be on the same team as Bearman at Ferrari next year, heaped praise on the youngster.

He said: “To be pulled out of your class and put straight into a Ferrari, a top team, and have to go straight into practice without long runs and all those sort of things, I think he did such a phenomenal job this weekend and it just shows that he’s really a bright future star.”

Charles Leclerc, who raced with Bearman in Jeddah, said what he did was “incredible”. He told reporters: “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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The youngster got to drive a Ferrari F1 car again on Wednesday at the team’s Fiorano test track. And Fred Vasseur has laid out the next steps for the talented racer.

He shared: “It’s a good signal for Ollie for sure, it’s an important milestone. In Melbourne and Imola he will be back on the F2 project, and the most important challenge for Ollie will be this one. He will start soon the FP1 sessions with Haas, and this will be important also for us to give him experience and mileage in the car.

“For sure with this one [Jeddah] he has the result in the pocket already. But you have to consider Jeddah is a step, not the final target. He did well this weekend, but he will have other challenges in front of him in the future with F2.

“He will do a couple of FP1s with us and Haas during the season and all of you, including me, in six months’ time we won’t speak any more about Jeddah, we’ll speak about Mexico, Brazil, and if he’s doing well or not. And every single day will be a new challenge. But for sure, if he’s keeping the same approach as today, it will go well.”

Bearman will be ready again for next weekend’s Australian Grand Prix but is not expected to race. Sainz’s recovery has gone as planned so far and the Spaniard is likely to reclaim his seat for the Melbourne race.