The next Lewis Hamilton: Is Ollie Bearman ready for the Ferrari hotseat?

Just months into his tenure at Ferrari, the rumours about when his spell in Maranelli will end are already starting.

While it appears Hamilton has a contract which lasts for at least three years to the end of 2027, results so far have been disastrous for the seven-time world champion.

READ MORE: After Elkann, Hamilton responds - 'Not now, not then, not ever

Off the back of a 2024 constructors' championship in which they finished just 11 points behind champions McLaren, Ferrari would have hoped that adding Hamilton would get them over the line in that sense.

The 40-year-old British supestar, on the other hand, would have been expecting to once again challenge for a record-breaking eighth world title, after three underwhelming seasons with Mercedes.

Some of it has been driver form, some of it has been the fact that Ferrari have got a very poor car, but nonetheless it has caused tensions at the Maranello outfit, with Ferrari chairman John Elkann recently telling Hamilton and Leclerc to 'talk less' and focus on their driving.

The move has not gone to plan. Nonetheless, Hamilton will be at Ferrari in 2026 as they attempt to make a breakthrough with the wholesale regulation changes that are coming to the sport.

But after that, it's hard to picture a scenario in which Ferrari extend a then-41-year-old Hamilton's contract into 2027, particular with so many good young drivers on the grid also set to be out of contract at the end of 2026.

And a Hamilton departure could pave the way for another British F1 star in Oliver Bearman.

Why Bearman to Ferrari makes sense

20-year-old Bearman's rookie season has had its up and downs, but right now he is in the form of his short career.

Fourth at the Mexican Grand Prix, sixth in the Brazil, the young Brit has scored 24 points in the last four grands prix weekends, and he is up to 11th in the drivers' standings, ahead of much more experienced team-mate Esteban Ocon.

Bearman is leading Haas' late-season charge for sixth place in the constructors' championship. And we all know the links between Haas and Ferrari, with the US-based outfit basically a junior team for Ferrari.

The young Brit is contracted at Haas until the end of the 2026 season, the same time that Hamilton's Ferrari deal comes to an end, and he is a Ferrari junior driver.

Recent form suggests he could make that step up with relative ease, and indeed the only race he has completed with Ferrari in his career was the 2024 Saudi Arabian GP when, sitting in for an ill Carlos Sainz, he finished seventh, ahead of Hamilton, then in the Mercedes.

He absolutely seems like 'the next one' for Ferrari. Leclerc has been Ferrari's young star since 2019, and is now an experienced, multiple grand prix winning driver. It'll soon be time for Ferrari to get another young star through the door to partner Leclerc, and that would be the ultimate test of where Bearman is at talent-wise.

Bearman's rookie season has been stronger points-wise than Leclerc's rookie season at Sauber in 2018, where he impressed enough to make the immediate jump up to Ferrari for the following season.

It would be great for British F1 fans, having yet another British driver racing with the most successful F1 team on the grid, and the early signs in Bearman's career suggest that it could be great for Ferrari, too.

READ MORE: Ferrari boss tells Hamilton and Leclerc: Shut up and drive

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