Magnussen to miss the entire Sao Paulo weekend, Bearman replaces the Danish driver

Haas has confirmed that Kevin Magnussen will miss the entire Sao Paulo F1 race weekend, with Oliver Bearman set to replace the Danish driver for the rest of the event.

The Kannapolis-based F1 outfit revealed ahead of the opening practice that Kevin Magnussen would miss Friday’s action after having reported feeling unwell.

Similar to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix where Magnussen was handed a race ban, Haas called on reserve Oliver Bearman to drive in the Dane’s place.

Ferrari’s reserve driver endured a brilliant sprint qualifying session, progressing to SQ3 which meant that he outperformed his experienced team-mate Nico Hulkenberg who qualified in P12. Despite a mistake on his last push tour which saw him lose his only timed lap, he will start from an impressive P10 at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace where he has never driven previously.

The American team had hoped that Magnussen could return to action for the main qualifying session. However, in the hours after Sprint Qualifying, a further announcement confirmed that the Dane would not return to compete in the remainder of the Sao Paulo F1 weekend, which means that Bearman will continue his substitute duties in Brazil.

Haas noted: “Following Ollie stepping into the VF-24 for today’s sessions due to Kevin’s sickness, we can confirm that the British driver will now complete the full BrazilGP weekend with the team. We wish Kevin a full and speedy recovery.”