{"id":457760,"date":"2025-09-28T11:30:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T11:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/457760\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T11:30:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T11:30:19","slug":"possible-lewis-hamilton-replacement-emerges-ferrari-future-uncertain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/457760\/","title":{"rendered":"Possible Lewis Hamilton replacement emerges, Ferrari future uncertain"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Ollie Bearman<\/a> burst onto the scene for Ferrari during the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix when Carlos Sainz Jr. was out with appendicitis, it became quite clear how good a driver he could become. Driving for Ferrari on debut comes with lots of pressure, and putting the SF-24 in the points was something not many expected from him.<\/p>\n

Bearman\u2019s performance fast-tracked his path to signing a contract at Haas to kickstart his Formula 1 career officially in 2025. So far in his rookie season, he has performed very well, with the highlight being a P6 finish in Zandvoort in August.<\/p>\n

As we get closer to 2026, drivers with expiring contracts are slowly set to begin thinking about their Formula 1 futures. Nearly half of the grid are slated to have the option to switch teams, similar to what occurred in 2024 for 2025.<\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton is someone who could once again switch teams, and like it did a year and a half ago, it could start the domino effect of an abundance of driver moves around the paddock.<\/p>\n

Bearman the favorite to replace the seven-time world champion<\/p>\n

Talk of the 20-year-old driving for Ferrari was ignited by that performance in Jeddah, when he kept Hamilton, then driving for Mercedes, behind him for P7. All of that talk could quickly turn into a reality at some point in 2026 if Hamilton decides to finish his career elsewhere or retire.<\/p>\n

Hamilton\u2019s contract is expected to end at the end of next season<\/a>, but the British driver has the option of extending it by one more season if he chooses to do so. Ultimately, the possibility of Bearman\u2019s move to Ferrari is reliant on Hamilton\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

Though Ayao Komatsu\u2019s main focus is to raise the level at Haas and make them a strong midfield team, he understands Bearman\u2019s potential. The Haas team principal stated<\/a> that he sees the young Briton as a future Ferrari driver.<\/p>\n

Bearman bears the praise from Ferrari, Haas, and several others around the F1 paddock. With a big year on tap in 2026, he could begin eyeing an eventual switch to the Maranello-based squad in hopes of bringing them their first world title in nearly two decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Ollie Bearman burst onto the scene for Ferrari during the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix when Carlos…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,707,4200,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-457760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-formula-1","10":"tag-formula1","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115281698813558702","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}