Oliver Bearman's new deal is next on the list for Haas after the team confirmed the Brit's team-mate for next year. Rafael Camara was confirmed on Thursday as Formula One's newest rookie, the Brazilian inheriting Esteban Ocon's seat next term.
Yet Bearman, who has excelled this season despite Haas' patchy form, still doesn't have a 2027 deal for himself. That will soon change, Haas boss Ayao Komatsu hinted, as he declared the Brit ready to lead the team into the future.
Komatsu: Bearman ready to lead
Speaking to select, invited media including Express Sport, he said: "Of course I'd like to continue with Ollie. He's an incredible talent and then he showed amazing growth. This year he's shown that he's ready to be a team leader and then you also saw how he raced in Singapore which was very, very impressive. It's just a matter of timing, a matter of finalising certain details, but yes, it is our intention to continue with Ollie. A formal announcement will come in due course."
Despite being the more experienced F1 racer, Bearman is actually three days younger than new team-mate Camara. Both are also Ferrari junior drivers, making them direct competitors in more than one sense.
Ferrari keeping watch
Not only will Haas be measuring both drivers' performance against each other, but Ferrari will keep a close eye on their development to decide who is best placed to step up when Lewis Hamilton eventually leaves.
Until then, Camara plans to take advantage of Bearman's experience and pace, using it to learn and to hit the ground running when his F1 career begins next March.
He said: "It will be a very good opportunity, it will be great to have Ollie as a team-mate, a good benchmark to just learn from and obviously trying to be as competitive as possible and help the team. I think it will be a good year together and just trying to get to learn the maximum and be there helping the team I think this will be the goal."
Doohan's future uncertain
Camara's promotion is a blow for Haas reserve driver Jack Doohan, who was keen to land another race seat having been ousted by Alpine last year after just seven races. But the son of five-time motorcycle racing world champion Mick Doohan now has no obvious route back onto the grid.
His reserve role with Haas is also uncertain after he missed out on a promotion, Komatsu said. The Japanese told us: "It's still up in the air. All drivers who were involved in [Haas' testing and evaluations] did a very, very good job. Rafa, Leo Fornaroli, Ryo Hirakawa, Jack Doohan – I believe they all got the best out of themselves and every time they got in a car they improved. So that was honestly a very uplifting process to be involved with. With Jack, our door is open, definitely. We'll be talking with him and then his manager as well, seeing if we can do something together beyond this year. So, that's still an open question."
