Next FP1 audition confirmed for British star following ‘sure deal’ F1 2025 tease

Ferrari’s British hot prospect Oliver Bearman has been confirmed for his next FP1 outing at the Spanish Grand Prix with Haas, a driver and team pairing which was teased as a “sure deal” for F1 2025 by Formula 1 correspondents Alex Jacques and Lawrence Barretto.

The 19-year-old – who burst onto the F1 scene at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in an impressive Ferrari debut in the place of Carlos Sainz – is continuing his Formula 1 journey through FP1 appearances with Haas, the latest scheduled for the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix.

Oliver Bearman in contention for Haas F1 2025 seat

Having received his first FP1 outing of the season with Ferrari customer team Haas at Imola, Bearman will be back behind the wheel at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in the place of Nico Hulkenberg for the opening hour of practice.

Hulkenberg will leave the team at the end of F1 2024 in order to join Sauber for next season, meaning there is at least one upcoming Haas vacancy, while the future of Hulkenberg’s current team-mate Kevin Magnussen has also been subject to speculation.

And Bearman to Haas for F1 2025 is a deal which Jacques and Barretto are “sure” is coming.

“We probably expect [Valtteri] Bottas to end up at Williams, but Haas are then going to be able to have a huge choice of who remains without a deal,” said Jacques on Channel 4.

“Could be some surprises ending up at that team.

“But we do expect Oliver Bearman to jump up from Formula 2 to Formula 1.”

Barretto replied: “Yeah, that feels like one of the sure deals to happen for next year, doesn’t it?”

While Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu was keeping his cards close to his chest when discussing their F1 2025 driver options, he did confirm that Bearman is among them, as evidenced by his FP1 opportunities.

“Of course we are evaluating him,” Komatsu confirmed to the Formula 1 website.

“If he is not [under] consideration, we wouldn’t be running him in FP1, and the next time he’s going to be in the car is in Barcelona.”

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Komatsu also confirmed that Haas are looking for “someone experienced” who can “really push the team forward”, so should Bearman land an F1 2025 seat, it remains to be seen whether Haas will be satisfied they see those qualities in Magnussen as he races to secure his future.

And while Magnussen remains intent on being a part of the F1 2025 grid, he admitted that there is a “chance” he may not be.

“There is a chance that will happen,” he told the media in Canada.

“I want to be in Formula 1. That’s what my mind is set on at the moment.

“Until that’s not a possibility anymore I’ll keep focused on that. Whatever happens, I’ll deal with that at that stage.”

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