{"id":84790,"date":"2025-08-21T11:07:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T11:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/84790\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T11:07:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T11:07:11","slug":"ferrari-have-already-chosen-who-will-replace-lewis-hamilton-if-the-seven-time-f1-champion-retires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/84790\/","title":{"rendered":"Ferrari have already chosen who will replace Lewis Hamilton if the seven-time F1 champion retires"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lewis Hamilton\u2019s miserable debut season as a Ferrari F1 driver hit a new low at the Hungarian Grand Prix, when the Briton suggested the Scuderia should replace him.<\/p>\n

The 2025 season started as a childhood dream coming true for the 40-year-old after moving from Mercedes to Maranello after 12 terms in Brackley. But Hamilton<\/a> has thus far endured a nightmare more than a dream, with the seven-time champion struggling to adjust to Ferrari<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Never before in Hamilton\u2019s 19-year Formula 1 career had he ever failed to score a Grand Prix podium finish through the first 10 rounds of a campaign. Yet the 202-time podium finisher is still to get on a Grand Prix rostrum in red after the first 14 of the 24 rounds coming this year.<\/p>\n

Hamilton even boasts his lowest points tally after 14 rounds since F1 introduced the current points format in 2010, with a mere 109. The Hungarian GP<\/a> also saw Hamilton fail to score a single point in a Grand Prix with Ferrari for the first time, as he only managed to secure P12.<\/p>\n

\"FerrariPhoto by Nicolas Economou\/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesFerrari have already chosen Haas rookie Oliver Bearman as Lewis Hamilton\u2019s replacement, if he retires<\/p>\n

The blows came early in Budapest, too, as Hamilton called himself \u201cuseless\u201d after qualifying P12 for the Hungarian GP<\/a> while teammate Charles Leclerc scored pole. It also saw Hamilton suggest Ferrari \u201cneed to change driver\u201d<\/a> after failing to reach Q3 for the fourth time in 2025.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton\u2019s life outside F1 from net worth to family<\/a><\/p>\n

SEASONTEAMPOINTSWINSPODIUMS2010McLaren182372011McLaren168242012McLaren142362013Mercedes161152014Mercedes2417112015Mercedes2778122016Mercedes2506112017Mercedes263792018Mercedes2566112019Mercedes2848122020Mercedes30710122021Mercedes221.5 (inc 2 from 1 F1 Sprint)4102022Mercedes146 (inc 1 from 1 F1 Sprint)062023Mercedes164 (inc 4 from 2 F1 Sprints)042024Mercedes150 (inc 10 from 2 F1 Sprints)242025Ferrari109 (inc 14 from 3 F1 Sprints)00Lewis Hamilton\u2019s points after 14 rounds since F1 changed its point-scoring system in 2010<\/p>\n

Ferrari have zero plans to replace Hamilton for the 2026 F1 season<\/a>, though. But Auto Motor und Sport<\/a> reports that the Scuderia have already chosen Haas<\/a> rookie Oliver Bearman<\/a> as the driver who would replace Hamilton, should the 105-time Grand Prix winner decide to retire.<\/p>\n

Retirement is the only realistic route that would yield a premature end to Hamilton\u2019s \u00a339m-a-year Ferrari contract through 2026<\/a>, which also includes an option for 2027. But Ferrari are prepared to promote Bearman, as their academy product is \u2018available\u2019 to replace Hamilton.<\/p>\n

Hamilton is not currently planning on retiring from F1, so Haas can continue to plan for next year with Bearman running alongside Esteban Ocon. Yet, should the seven-time champion\u2019s plight persist and he calls it quits, then Bearman \u2018would step up\u2019 to drive for Ferrari in 2026.<\/p>\n

Ferrari have long seen Oliver Bearman as their future Formula 1 driver\"FerrariPhoto by Malcolm Griffiths \u2013 Formula 1\/Formula 1 via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Bearman has endured an up-and-down first full season on the F1 grid<\/a> with Haas in 2025. But the Ferrari product retains the full support of the Scuderia\u2019s management in case Hamilton\u2019s woes tempt the 104-time Grand Prix polesitter to retire before F1\u2019s 2026 regulations arrive.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Who is 2025 Haas driver Oliver Bearman? Everything to know<\/a><\/p>\n

CategoryOliver BearmanEsteban Ocon2025 points827Grand Prix results68Grand Prix qualifying59Grand Prix wins00Grand Prix poles00Grand Prix podiums00Best finish8th5thRetirements21Retirements (classified finish)00Disqualifications00Fastest laps00Grand Prix points finishes35Sprint results12Sprint Qualifying12Sprint wins00Sprint poles00Sprint podiums00The 2025 F1 teammate head-to-head battle of Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon<\/p>\n

It has also long been said that it is only a matter of time before Bearman drives for Ferrari<\/a> as long as he impresses with Haas this year. The 20-year-old so far boasts just eight points and has not finished a Grand Prix in the top 10 since race four, but he has come 11th four times.<\/p>\n

Bearman has even reached Q3 twice, as many times as Ocon has, and reached Q2 a further six times, once more than his one-time Grand Prix-winning teammate. The Briton and Ocon have also qualified as high as P8 once, but Bearman would not start the British GP from P8.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lewis Hamilton\u2019s miserable debut season as a Ferrari F1 driver hit a new low at the Hungarian Grand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,826,1627,5328,823,806,805,803,804,5242,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-84790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-ferrari","11":"tag-formula-1-driver-market","12":"tag-haas","13":"tag-lewis-hamilton","14":"tag-motor","15":"tag-motor-sports","16":"tag-motosport","17":"tag-motosports","18":"tag-oliver-bearman","19":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}