Impressive F1 rookie Oliver Bearman will travel to Australia next week so that he can remain on standby for the recovering Ferrari regular Carlos Sainz.
Following his emergency appendix surgery, Sainz walked slowly and cautiously back into the Jeddah paddock on Saturday, where British teenage Formula 2 star Bearman, 18, was preparing to race the Spaniard's red car on the fast Saudi streets.
Briton Bearman impressed, finishing seventh, but attention was already turning to whether Sainz will be well enough to return to his cockpit in Melbourne.
"We will probably only make a decision in Melbourne," team boss Frederic Vasseur said. "At least we now know that we have a good replacement in Ollie."
Experienced F1 doctor Riccardo Ceccarelli had said a day earlier that Sainz should have enough time to be fit for Melbourne. Vasseur said: "We have to take it step by step.
"He has to recover first and we will make a decision next week. We will have Oliver in the team just in case, but we are already optimistic that he (Sainz) will be there again."
Sainz will travel from Saudi Arabia to his native Madrid on Sunday, but just a couple of days later will be en route on the long haul to Australia.
"I visited him this morning," Vasseur said on Saturday, "and he looked quite well. He was here today. He is in pain and has difficulty walking, so some serious recovery lies ahead.
"He needs to rest well this week, so we'll see. Now we need to focus on Melbourne."
Some believe Sainz, 29, was determined to return to the Jeddah paddock on Saturday to demonstrate his intense commitment to Formula 1 - as a key meeting about his future took place.
DAZN, the Spanish F1 broadcaster, captured images of Sainz's father, Carlos Sainz snr, as well as his manager and advisor, Carlos Orono, coming out of the Mercedes hospitality area after a meeting with Toto Wolff.
"That is the job that every driver and every manager has to do," said former F1 driver Pedro de la Rosa.
"They say in F1 that managers are so important because when you sign a contract, they start studying how they can break it," he laughed. "In the end, what you learn in this sport is that you are worth only as much as your last race."
