The Haas F1 team has had a troubled first half of the season. With only a handful of points finishes across 11 races and 3 sprints, the team have struggled for consistency in this new regulation set. Now there are emerging rumours concerning both drivers, with Bearman looking to be snatched up by one of the top teams while Ocon seems to be in danger of losing his F1 seat altogether.
Driver Drama at Haas could kick off the Driver Market in 2026
With great performances come great opportunities in Formula 1. Ollie Bearman is no stranger to great opportunities as his first F1 outings all came in 2024 when he subbed on three separate occasions for Ferrari and Haas in Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan and Brazil. However, new rumours are linking him to a future Red Bull seat if Max Verstappen should leave the Austrian outfit in upcoming years. These rumours have even lead to an ↗︎official response from Bearman during the Belgian GP weekend:
"It's quite flattering to hear things like that, to with a team like Red Bull, who are incredibly successful and to be connected with them in any way, even if it's just rumours is very nice, but I'm fully focused on what I'm doing here with Haas at the moment."
2026 Season: Oliver Bearman vs Esteban Ocon
2026 · P13
2026 · P17
While Bearman seems to be looking at an upgrade in teams in the coming years, his teammate is looking at the other end of the spectrum. With only 3 points scored so far and many disappointing results, the team seems to be looking at replacing Esteban Ocon for 2027. Here the options are plenty, with Formula 2 drivers like Rafael Camara at the front of the line to make an F1 debut sooner rather than later.
Money problems for Haas could prove detrimental for upcoming races
Haas F1 team has always been a 'small' team with just over 400 employees compared to other teams who have over 1000 employees to run the team efficiently. Team Principal ↗︎Ayao Kamatsu has outlined where the crutch lies that holds Haas back at the moment:
“We talked about us being outdeveloped. That's not a reflection of, let's say, incapability of our guys. I think our guys are doing, honestly, a fantastic job. Anybody who knows about Formula 1, knowing our size and resource of the team, and then producing what we are producing, I think they will understand this statement. I wish we can [operate at budget cap level ]. We're not. It's one of the top priorities on my job list to be able to fund this team so that we can operate at the budget cap. Because that's the baseline, right? We should be achieving that first step."
Kamatsu has taken a lot of positives from the first half of the 2026 season, despite being outdeveloped by their competition:
“What they produced at the beginning of this year is completely unexpected. So it's not a reflection of our guys, it's more a reflection on my side. I need to be able to get better revenue to this team and provide a better environment for our guys. Then, once we've done that, we've got the guys to do it. We've got the drivers to do it. So I'm sure we can come back.”
