There are 11 seats left to fill on the 2025 Formula 1 grid and while there are still 18 races to run this year, the pressure is already starting to ramp up on those without a contract.
Nico Hulkenberg’s move to Sauber from Haas is expected to shake up the bottom of the grid in the same way that Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari has put the strongest teams on red alert.
Speaking on the Autosport Podcast, journalist Alex Kalinauckas was speaking about the prospects of one driver on the grid.
Plenty of drivers are starting to put themselves out there in the hope of earning a new deal for next year.
Valtteri Bottas appears to be very unlikely to stay Sauber and has admitted in a Formula 1 press conference that he’s ‘speaking to multiple teams’ at the moment.
His teammate Zhou Guanyu is also likely to be moved on before next season and another tough weekend hasn’t done his prospects any favours.
However, Kalinauckas believes that Haas driver Kevin Magnussen may have harmed his chance of earning a contract extension with the team after his antics during the Miami Grand Prix.
After losing Hulkenberg for 2025, team principal Ayao Komatsu and owner Gene Haas have a couple of big decisions to make.
While the German moving on should have improved his prospects, he’s making too many mistakes on track and his comments after the Sprint Race may not have been warmly received by the team.
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Kevin Magnussen harmed 2025 Haas contract chances after Miami Grand Prix
Haas have had a much stronger start to the 2024 season than many expected, including Komatsu who was playing down expectations in pre-season.
However, in the season opener in Bahrain, Nico Hulkenberg showed that the car was much faster than last year, reaching Q3 and going on to score points at four different race weekends.
The German has rightfully earned a move to Sauber next year and will be a key driver for the Audi works team in 2026.
Kevin Magnussen’s prospects this season haven’t been as positive and Haas might be starting to have question marks over whether to keep him for 2025 after his performance in Miami.
He received 30 seconds worth of penalties in the Sprint Race before saying he was being a team player trying to protect Hulkenberg as he battled with Lewis Hamilton.
Magnussen then took out Logan Sargeant in the Grand Prix and is now just two penalty points away from receiving a one-race ban as a result.
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Talking about the 31-year-old’s future at Haas, Kalinauckas said: “The more worrying thing than anything else, even more worrying and to be fair this could have implications for his 2025 future.
“He’s two points away from a race ban now, he’s on 10 points leaving the weekend. One incident…he has a Carlos Sainz incident and the stewards don’t give a ridiculous mitigation factor in Imola and he’s missing Monaco.
“He’s really up against it. He also wasn’t very smart in what he said after the Sprint Race to Sky Sports F1.
“We do appreciate drivers and sportspeople being candid in what they say and I know Lewis Hamilton appreciated what Magnussen said about his driving in the Sprint Race.
“But, it wasn’t very smart to say I did that all deliberately, it was all very cynical.”
Who might Haas consider for the 2025 season?
If Magnussen – who has scored 187 points in his F1 career – did harm his chances of driving for Haas in 2025 with his performance in Miami, then the team won’t be short of options.
The most obvious and likely new driver for next season is Oliver Bearman.
The Ferrari junior driver will take part in his first FP1 of the season with Haas in Imola and Komatsu appears very keen to bring the 19-year-old in.
There are going to be several other drivers on the grid who need a new seat for next season as well.
Zhou Guanyu has been described as an ideal Gene Haas driver in the past, but it’s hard to argue that he’s a big upgrade on Magnussen.
The name the Dane might be more worried about is Valtteri Bottas, who has had a strong season in a very poor car.
While he hasn’t officially been linked to Haas yet, his management will be looking at every possible available option for next year and beyond.
The post ‘Really up against it’: 187-point driver harmed his 2025 F1 chances after Miami GP weekend – journalist appeared first on F1 Oversteer.