Ferrari have confirmed that their driver Carlos Sainz has been diagnosed with appendicitis and requires surgery, forcing him to miss Saturday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Sainz pulled out of media duties on Wednesday before returning to the paddock for practice sessions the following day.
With Sainz unable to compete, junior driver Ollie Bearman will replace him for the remainder of the weekend in Jeddah, starting with FP3 on Friday.
Ferrari released a statement on their social media channels wishing Sainz the best in his recovery. “Carlos Sainz has been diagnosed with appendicitis and will require surgery,” the statement read.
“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.”
After racing on Thursday, Sainz admitted that it had been his “toughest” day as a professional driver when he took to the track before being diagnosed with appendicitis. “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 Saturday I’m 100 per cent 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.
“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.”
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