Haas have a vacancy for the 2025 season after Nico Hulkenberg agreed to join Sauber. And Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman is poised to fill it.
Bearman completed the first of six planned FP1 outings with the team this season at Imola last time out. According to Sky Sports F1 presenter Rachel Brookes, the talk in the paddock is that he’ll get the seat.
Kevin Magnussen may have initially seen Hulkenberg’s exit as the break he needed. Bearman, who starred in a stand-in outing for Ferrari at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, had been putting pressure on both drivers.
But even with a clear spot opening up for the young Briton, Magnussen remains vulnerable. His stock within the team has fallen after he amassed five penalty points in Miami to put himself on the verge of a race ban.
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu is now considering alternative options. One of those is Valtteri Bottas, who may lose his seat to Hulkenberg.
The feeling at Haas is that he may be a better mentor for Bearman than the incident-prone Magnussen. There have also been links with Bottas’ teammate Zhou Guanyu and struggling Williams driver Logan Sargeant.
Will Buxton says Pierre Gasly will be on Haas ‘list’ for 2025
Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly are both considering their options for 2025. The French team furnished them with a strong midfield car last year, enabling them to score 120 points and a podium apiece.
But they’ve fallen to the back of the field this year and arrive in Monaco with just a single point on the board. This on-track decline may be the result of upheaval behind the scenes, with CEO Laurent Rossi and team principal Otmar Szafnauer at the forefront of an exodus that began last summer.
There has even been talk that the team could be put up for sale after falling a long way short of objectives. They have officially rejected this possibility.
Ocon has already been linked with a move to Haas. And F1TV journalist Will Buxton expects his teammate Gasly, who won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix and has scored four podiums in his career, to be ‘high on their list’ too.
Speaking on the Weekend Warm-Up show, he said: “Gasly and Ocon are both looking elsewhere. Why wouldn’t you with the team in the state that it’s in at the moment?
“Haas want a race-winning driver to go alongside Ollie Bearman in the other seat next year. Gasly and Ocon would have to be high on their lists for that.”
Audi also an option for Pierre Gasly
Gasly will be trying to plot his way back to the front of Formula 1 after a failed stint at Red Bull in 2019. He received a call-up to the senior team after impressing at Toro Rosso but only lasted half a season alongside Max Verstappen before he was replaced by Alex Albon.
Haas have been more competitive than Alpine so far this year, scoring seven points to put them one spot ahead of the Enstone outfit. But it would still look like a sideways step.
Long term, Gasly may be better served joining Audi. The German manufacturer will assume control of Sauber in 2026 and their boss Andreas Seidl says they will have the budget to compete with top teams.
They want to be winning titles by 2031, and while that’s far easier said than done, many will be excited by their prospects. Gasly is on their shortlist for next year, but he may be reliant on Carlos Sainz rejecting their offer if he’s to get the opportunity.
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