Oliver Bearman has surprised everyone in his debut season—former team boss Günther Steiner sees the Haas driver as an “obvious candidate” for a future at Ferrari.
Haas driver Oliver Bearman has mastered his debut season in Formula 1 with flying colors and achieved several highlights over the course of the year: The 20-year-old Briton finished fourth in the Mexican Grand Prix and even ended up ahead of his experienced teammate Esteban Ocon in the drivers’ championship.
No wonder former Haas team boss Günther Steiner has words of praise for Bearman, naming him one of the best rookies of 2025. “I mean, he started the year quickly but made mistakes, but in the second half of the season he put them behind him,” says the South Tyrolean in The Red Flags podcast.
“It’s as if someone flipped a switch,” Steiner said, looking back on the year after the season finale in Abu Dhabi. “In the first half of the season, I thought he was taking too many risks with the car he had, and that’s why he had a few crashes, which wasn’t good, a lot of penalty points.”
“In the second half of the season, he continued to collect points, but he didn’t make any more mistakes, even in the race, he fought hard.” The Briton’s performances were so impressive that he was even touted as a possible successor to Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari.
Steiner sees Bearman at Ferrari from 2027
A move that Steiner would expressly endorse. “We all know he can overtake, and I think the door to Ferrari should be open for him in 2027. Because if Lewis doesn’t have the success he should have, I don’t think he’ll continue, and then there’s the obvious candidate for Ferrari.”
Bearman was one of five rookies in the premier class in the 2025 season. Mercedes youngster Kimi Antonelli finished as the best rookie in seventh place overall with 150 points, followed by Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar in 12th and Bearman in 13th.
Liam Lawson finished his season in 14th place overall, while Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto finished 19th with 19 championship points. Alpine driver Franco Colapinto did not score a single championship point during the season, finishing in 20th place.
