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Ferrari Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz has been ruled out of the rest of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend and will be replaced by Ferrari protege Ollie Bearman.
Sainz missed media day in Jeddah on Wednesday with illness and while he returned for practice day on Thursday, he still felt far from 100%.
On Friday morning Ferrari confirmed that Sainz "has been diagnosed with appendicitis and will require surgery".
He will be replaced by Ferrari reserve driver Bearman who will make a surprise early F1 debut.
Bearman's been a Ferrari junior since the end of 2021 when he won both the Italian and German varieties of Formula 4.
He almost won the Formula 3 title in 2022 and was sixth in his rookie F2 season last year with three feature race wins.
Bearman made his F1 weekend debut with Haas last year with two practice outings in Mexico and Abu Dhabi.
He was already set for six further outings with Haas this year and an intensive F1 testing programme with Ferrari.
Bearman was already in Jeddah and was set to start the F2 feature race on Saturday from pole position, having bounced back from a tricky weekend in Bahrain.
He will now solely focus on F1, beginning with FP3 and his first-ever F1 qualifying session.
Bearman will not start either F2 race and Prema will not replace him.
It is yet to be confirmed when Sainz will return, with the next F1 race after Jeddah coming in Melbourne, in two weeks.
