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‘Wasting your best years’: Ferrari young gun open to playing the driver market; Merc set for engine penalties: Pit Talk Oliver Bearman is wary of wasting his best years at Haas as the pathway to Ferrari appears closed to him for the foreseeable future. Bearman, 21 years old, is a Ferrari junior driver on loan to Ferrari engine customer team Haas to prove himself for a promotion to Maranello. His odds of moving to the historic racing team imminently appeared strong last season, when Lewis Hamilton was struggling and when there was even speculation Charles Leclerc was running out of patience with the Italian giant. Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship™ LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1. Those odds were further boosted by his strong performances late last year and his continued upwards trajectory in 2026, when he’s comprehensively beating Esteban Ocon, his more experienced teammate. But Leclerc has since re-signed on a deal that will reportedly take him into the 2030s, while Hamilton has rediscovered his form with the change of regulations and is fractionally shading the Monegasque — and the seven-time champion has signalled he has plenty of time to run on his contract. It leaves the impressive Bearman without his predetermined route to the front of the sport and likely to languish with Haas, the sport’s smallest team, for at least another season — a prospect that has left the Englishman with mixed emotions. “As an F1 fan and a Lewis fan as well, it’s pretty cool to see him performing at the level he is,” Bearman told F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast. “Seeing him on the top step in Barcelona was quite a special moment for British F1 in general. “Of course in terms of my future that’s not ideal. “My goal remains to be a Ferrari driver one day. Of course I don’t want to be sitting around for three, four, five years waiting for a seat to become available, because there are no guarantees. You can be wasting your best years.” MORE FORMULA 1 DRIVER RANKINGS: Where Piastri sits as new reality sinks in REPORT CARD: Humiliating moment exposes true biggest flop; Piastri puzzle WINNERS AND LOSERS: Painful Piastri truth as young gun breaks Ricciardo curse; debt Max must pay Rumours emerged shortly before the mid-season break that Bearman was being sought by Red Bull Racing as a potential back-up option should Max Verstappen quit the sport. He described the speculation as “flattering” then, but he has since said that the time may come when he has to think about himself rather than his loyalty to Ferrari. “My ultimate goal is maybe a bit selfish, and that’s okay, because that’s the reason I’m here,” he said. “I want to be fighting for world championships, so if I can have that opportunity wherever, I will take it.“ He reiterated, though, that he wasn’t itching to extricate himself from Haas in just his second full-time Formula 1 season. “I’m still young — I’m only 21,” he said. “I’m not in a huge rush, and for me, staying at Haas for the foreseeable is not a bad thing. “I feel like there’s a lot to learn at this team. There’s a lot to still achieve.“ Bearman’s good form this year is hotly tipped to see him racing alongside a new Haas teammate next season, with Esteban Ocon out of contract this year and struggling for results. Team boss Ayao Komatsu started the season describing the Frenchman’s 2025 campaign as underwhelming after he was overpowered by rookie Bearman, and that trend has only accelerated this season — though Ocon has insisted that car discrepancies have played a role in his comprehensive beating. The Haas shortlist is believed to feature three names: former Red Bull Racing driver Yuki Tsunoda, who would satisfy title sponsor Toyota’s desire for a Japanese driver in the mix; reigning Formula 2 champion and McLaren junior Leonardo Fornaroli; and Ferrari junior and reigning Formula 3 champion Rafael Câmara. MERCEDES FACING ENGINE PENALTIES AFTER UNRELIABILITY RUN Championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes teammate George Russell will almost certainly serve grid penalties for engine changes in the second half of the season as Mercedes attempts to fend off a potential late charge from Ferrari. Mercedes has been the season’s best performer but was undermined by chronic unreliability in the first half of the campaign, particularly with its power unit. Russell retired from the lead of the Canadian Grand Prix with a battery failure, and the same problem cruelled Antonelli from second at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. Both have used their maximum of three batteries for the year — as have both Ferrari drivers, but it’s believed Russell and Antonelli’s failed batteries can no longer be used this season, whereas Hamilton and Leclerc still have all three available. Antonelli and Russell have also suffered problems with their internal combustion engines, with both having used their maximum of four petrol motors for the year, one apiece of which may be out of action. Antonelli is also at the four-component limit for his exhaust system. The Ferrari drivers have used only three engines each so far this season, and both are well within the exhaust limit. Power unit component usage Engine (4): Antonelli, Russell: 4; Hamilton, Leclerc: 3 Turbo (4): Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc: 3 Exhaust (4): Antonelli: 4; Russell: 3; Hamilton, Leclerc: 2 Battery (3): Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc: 3 Electronics (3): Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc: 3 Hybrid (3): Antonelli, Russell: 2; Hamilton, Leclerc: 3 Ancillaries (6): Antonelli, Russell: 5; Hamilton, Leclerc: 4 Taking an extra one of any power unit element incurs a 10-place grid penalty, meaning an entirely new power unit effectively means a back-of-grid start. It’s a precarious position with more than half the season still to run, but it could be particularly difficult if Mercedes intends to use its single engine upgrade concession this season, which would require bringing new power unit elements to each car. Ferrari has one of its two upgrade concessions remaining but would be able to upgrade its internal combustion engine and exhaust without taking a penalty. It is expected to do so for its home race in Italy. “I think, looking at how many we’ve used in the first half of the season, it’s almost inevitable that at some point there will be penalties to take,” Mercedes deputy principal Bradley Lord said, per The Race. “It’s realistically going to be hard to get to the end of the season on the existing hardware that we’ve got. “The probabilities and the maths would suggest that both at some point will need to take a form of penalty, size to be determined.” Engine penalties are not uncommon, and teams are tactical about where they take their grid drops, choosing circuits that are conducive to overtaking or that reward engine power. The next such favourable circuit is Italian Grand Prix host Monza, which could put title-leading Italian Antonelli in an invidious position. “There could be one [race] that can be very special for Kimi, but on paper looks like it’s a good place to take an engine penalty,” team boss Toto Wolff said, per The Race. “We need to speak to Marco [Antonelli, his father] when we want to take an engine penalty in Monza. Baku is also one. “Yeah, maybe take the pressure off Monza, to start from the back.” RACING BULLS WON’T REIN IN DRIVERS DESPITE TITLE OBJECTIVE Racing Bulls will not enforce team orders on Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad as the team pursues a best-ever fifth place in the constructors championship. Lawson and rookie Lindblad have been closely matched in qualifying all season, but the British young gun has got closer to the New Zealander in race trim as the season has progressed. Their battles have frequently been fraught and fought at close quarters, including at the previous two rounds, in Belgium and Hungary. They also shared some aggro in Austria, where Lindblad ignored a team instruction not to overtake Lawson to ensure both cars kept their brake temperatures under control ion sweltering conditions. Both drivers know that a place at Red Bull Racing could be on the line in their intrateam battle, with uncertainty over Max Verstappen place at the senior Red Bull owned team in 2027 and 2028. Team boss Alan Permane said he was happy to let both continue getting their elbows out so long as they followed motorsport’s golden rule. “I have to put my trust in them,” team principal Alan Permane said, per Racer. “We talk about it of course, before the race, and I say to them, ‘Listen, you can race. Do not touch each other.’ That’s my one thing — do not touch each other. “It’s a nice problem to have … Honestly, when they go on track, they’re driver A and driver B to me. I tell them that. I don’t care which order they come in. Constructors [championship] is everything for us.” Lawson and Lindblad are yet to make serious contact but have made good on their opportunities in an improving Racing Bulls car, with their collective score rate moving the team ahead of Alpine for fifth on the table in Budapest just before the break. Racing Bulls, including in its various previous guises, has never finished higher than sixth in the championship. “It’s been amazing,“ Permane said. ”Of course, it’s an effort from every single person that works in this fantastic team. Everyone in Faenza, everyone in Milton Keynes. “What’s made the difference is everything we’ve put on the car is working. We’re bringing decent sized upgrades and we hit the track and they work. Drivers are delivering. Just everywhere, everything’s firing well.”