Former Haas boss Guenther Steiner believes Ferrari should replace Lewis Hamilton with Oliver Bearman for the 2027 Formula 1 season, as the Briton continues to impress.
As Lewis Hamilton’s debut Ferrari season continues to underwhelm, the fortunes of Ferrari Academy driver Oliver Bearman in his first full season have garnered praise.
The Briton is on a streak of four consecutive points finishes, including a lauded fourth place in Mexico, where he beat Hamilton to achieve Haas’ joint best F1 finish in its history.
Hamilton, however, remains without a podium finish, as his struggles to adapt to Ferrari threaten to continue into 2026, leading to rumours the seven-time world champion could walk away.
Steiner believes that should this scenario play out, Ferrari must promote Bearman to a full-time seat for 2027, asked the question on the ‘Gas or Brake’ segment of The Red Flags podcast.
“Gas!” Steiner said in favour of Bearman. “If Hamilton next year isn’t any good, he should replace him. Ollie is doing a fantastic job, he shows what he’s worth.”
A matter of time before a Ferrari call up for Bearman?
Making his case for Bearman’s promotion, Steiner credited the Briton’s dominance over experienced team-mate Esteban Ocon, leading the Frenchman by 10 points in the standings.
“Beginning of the year, he made mistakes. Now he’s as clean as they get. Blows away Ocon, who is a much more experienced driver, paid a lot more money I guess. Blows him away, leaves him behind.
“I think if Ferrari doesn’t give him a seat in 27, I think he will get a seat in one of the top teams anyway in 27. He will not be hanging around in the midfield, because he shows what he can do. His drives are so solid at the moment, fantastic to watch.”
Those inside the F1 paddock also believe a call up to Ferrari for Bearman is only a matter of time, with Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz championing a potential move.
“It’s clear as night follows day that Ollie Bearman will eventually replace Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari. I think that’s absolutely clear,” he said on The F1 Show.
“Whether Charles Leclerc will stay there or not long-term is a completely separate subject.
“It’s the Ferrari way – they did it with Charles Leclerc – to farm out their juniors to a Sauber, or to Haas, or to an engine customer, and then bring them in-house.
“Haas insist that they’ve got Bearman nailed down for ’26, so I think Ferrari will let it play out with Hamilton, get to the end of his contract and then make a call on whether it’s Bearman.”
Any move would require Hamilton to either walk away, or be bought out of his contract, and previously refused to be drawn into the status of negotiations.
“I have a pretty long contract,” Hamilton confirmed. “Normally, when you do a contract, it’s usually the year before you start to talk about it. I’m a little bit far from that right now.”
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