TECH WEEKLY: The enforced change for Bearman that made his drive in Jeddah all the more impressive

One of the interesting stories to emerge from Oliver Bearman’s spectacular stand-in performance for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari, in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, was his enforced adaptation to Sainz’s steering wheel controls.

Although Bearman had driven the Ferrari in the simulator several times, it had always been with Charles Leclerc’s steering wheel layout. Drivers tend to personalise the controls to their preferences, especially well-established ones such as Sainz. But Leclerc had always retained the standard layout, as it was originally designed.