Author Archives: PressBox

Oliver Bearman said he is ready to prove himself for a future Ferrari seat, but his immediate focus remains Haas as he waits to learn what comes next for 2027. Bearman said finalizing his Haas future is “out of my hands,” adding that negotiations involving his management and Ferrari still need to be completed. He said Haas is the midfield team he wants to stay with, while his long-term goal is to race for Ferrari and eventually move to a top-four team.

Bearman said this season has been a big step, with better on-track performance, stronger work with Haas and a bigger leadership role. He said he feels ready to fight for podiums. Bearman and Rafael Câmara are both Ferrari Driver Academy prospects, and both joined Ferrari on the same day.

Câmara has been announced as Haas’s driver next season, where he will replace Esteban Ocon. Bearman said Ferrari opportunities often come down to timing, and he pointed to Charles Leclerc’s path as an example. Leclerc’s new multi-year extension is likely to keep him at Ferrari into the 2030s, while Lewis Hamilton’s seat appears to be the likeliest opening, though Hamilton is under contract for 2027 and his future will depend on next season’s performance.

Teams arrive at the 2026 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix in Austin with upgrades and with Red Bull the likely race favorite. Track limits are also expected to be a major issue again at Circuit of the Americas after 32 laps were deleted there last year.

McLaren bring modest upgrades as the reigning constructors’ champions, but they are trying to stop a slide while fighting to hold third place and halt Red Bull’s late-season push in the standings. Their lead over Red Bull has fallen from 76 points to seven after the first three races of the triple header, and McLaren did not score a podium in those races while Red Bull recorded four top-three finishes, including two wins by Max Verstappen. Rob Marshall said the package, which includes small changes to the floor, is meant to improve braking reliability and performance, and he said Austin is a better circuit for McLaren’s car.

Ferrari’s Austin floor upgrade was described by Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc as only a very small step forward. Mercedes will also bring its latest upgrade package to Austin for George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, with Toto Wolff saying the team wants to respond after difficult weekends in Malaysia and Singapore. Wolff also described the 2026 Formula 1 field as incredibly close.

Racing Bulls have not finalized either of their 2027 drivers, with Helmut Marko saying the team should choose Nikola Tsolov over Liam Lawson as it weighs its next lineup. Marko said Red Bull “do not buy stars, they make stars” and backed the team’s approach of developing its own young drivers, even as Lawson’s future in Formula 1 remains unconfirmed beyond the end of 2026.

Racing Bulls is considering whether to keep Lawson alongside Arvid Lindblad or make room for Tsolov, who is second in Formula 2 behind Rafael Camara. Tsolov also completed a test day with Racing Bulls at Imola, giving him another chance to impress as the team evaluates its options.

Alan Permane said Racing Bulls is not in a rush to decide its 2027 lineup. James Hinchcliffe said continuity would be the best option and that he would keep Lawson and Lindblad together. Lawson was ninth in the Formula 1 drivers’ championship with 75 points after the Singapore Grand Prix, and he scored 14 points in a three-race stint back at Red Bull while Isack Hadjar recovered from injury.

Lewis Hamilton said he wants to keep racing in Formula 1 until he can compete in the planned Rwanda Grand Prix, a race set for the early 2030s that has already drawn criticism over Rwanda’s human rights record and concerns about sportswashing. Formula 1 confirmed the 10-year deal for the event last week, with the race planned for Bugesera, about 40 kilometers south of Kigali, on a new purpose-built circuit. No exact date has been set, and if the race goes ahead it would be Formula 1’s first Grand Prix in Africa since 1993. Hamilton said he would be 45 if the race happened in 2030, and he turns 45 on Jan. 7, 2030. He also said he is not certain to race beyond his Ferrari contract, which runs through next season.

Hamilton said he has had numerous meetings and calls with Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and others about bringing an African race back. He said Formula 1 should approach the return to Africa with humility, said Africa deserves to have a Grand Prix, and said the event could help showcase Africa’s culture to a wider audience. He added that hosting the race should not mean ignoring problems in Rwanda or the wider region.

The plan has been criticized by Amnesty UK, which cited Rwanda’s human rights record and alleged involvement in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC has filed a case at the International Court of Justice alleging treaty violations, and its foreign minister has urged Formula 1 to seek guarantees that no race funding comes from conflict-linked minerals or exploitation of Congolese resources. Hamilton ended by saying, “We need to make sure we’re pushing to free Congo, free Sudan, free Syria, free Palestine.”