Carlos Sainz admits he could miss Australian Grand Prix with Ollie Bearman on standby

The Spaniard missed the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix two weeks ago after undergoing abdominal surgery

Carlos Sainz admits he could miss this Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix if he “doesn’t feel good” in practice on Friday.

The Ferrari driver missed the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix two weeks ago after undergoing abdominal surgery for appendicitis.

British 18-year-old Ollie Bearman stood in for Sainz and impressed, finishing seventh on debut, and is waiting in the wings should Sainz be unfit to race in Melbourne this weekend.

However, Sainz is “feeling positive” about returning to the cockpit but revealed he has plans to check in with the FIA’s medical delegate after second practice on Friday.

“I put together a very strong recovery plan since I landed back home to be ready for this race,” Sainz said on Thursday. “I will jump in the car tomorrow and see how I feel. I’m feeling positive about it.

“But obviously, I’m not stupid. If I don’t feel good tomorrow, I will be the first one to raise my hand and say that I need another two weeks to the next race.

“They are monitoring my progress. I’m the first one that doesn’t want to be in pain or to suffer, to make it any worse. I’m not stupid, and I will be very clear with how I’m feeling and everything.”

"On top of that, I wouldn’t have jumped in the car in Jeddah on Thursday if it wasn’t possible. I did 26 laps because I could, not because I was in pain. Yes it wasn’t an easy 26 laps per session but I could get them done."

Carlos Sainz missed the last race in Saudi Arabia (Getty Images)

Sainz finished on the podium in the first race of the season in Bahrain in what will be his final season with the Scuderia, with Lewis Hamilton replacing him for the 2025 season.

The 29-year-old added that Bearman did a “really good job” during his debut race in Jeddah.

"It’s not a nice feeling obviously not being able to race, especially after such a strong start to the season, seeing how competitive the car was in Jeddah again - thinking and doing the calculations of how many points you lost!" he added.

"Then with the next race thinking you’re not going to be able to go in the simulator and prepare or train for 14 days. It’s not ideal.

"Ollie? Really, really good job. I agree with Charles (Leclerc) that it’s also thanks to the way these drivers are prepared nowadays with the amount of simulator time and the amount of testing that we do with the old cars.

"It’s also possible to do what he did thanks to that, but under pressure with only FP3, he got things done really well and did great."