Guenther Steiner is rarely subtle, and on the latest episode of his Red Flags podcast the former Haas team principal made his view on Ferrari's medium-term driver future about as plain as it can be.
Asked in the show's familiar 'Gas or Brake' segment whether Oliver Bearman should one day replace Lewis Hamilton at Maranello, Steiner did not bother with diplomacy.
"Gas!" he replied.
The context is hard to ignore. Hamilton's first season at Ferrari has been notoriously bumpy, and his complaints about the SF26's 2026-spec power unit and tyre window have become a recurring theme in television broadcasts. Whispers in Italian media that the seven-time world champion could announce his F1 retirement at the British Grand Prix have hardened into a full speculation cycle.
Steiner sees Bearman, currently in his second season at Haas under the Ferrari Driver Academy umbrella, as the obvious solution.
"At some stage Hamilton will say he's had enough, and Bearman is ready for Ferrari," Steiner said.
That verdict carries weight. Steiner ran Bearman for parts of 2024 and 2025 in the Haas squad he led for almost a decade, and his on-record assessment of the young Briton has always been bullish. He has previously called Bearman an "obvious candidate" to step into the second Ferrari seat when Hamilton chooses to step out, and his comments on Red Flags simply tighten the timeline.
The Italian view is that Charles Leclerc remains untouchable as the long-term lead driver, but the partner role is now wide open in the medium term. Bearman has not yet officially returned to Ferrari property after his Haas loan, but the FDA contract still gives Maranello first refusal, and he is widely understood to be the favoured internal option for 2027 and beyond.
Not everyone agrees that pushing Hamilton aside this quickly is the right call. McLaren CEO Zak Brown declined to feed the speculation in his own recent interview, and David Coulthard has cautioned that Hamilton's experience could still be a stabilising influence as Ferrari fights to recover from its difficult start to the new ground-effect rules cycle. But the Italian press, sensing a storyline, has begun briefing that internal patience with Hamilton is wearing thin.
Steiner is also under no illusions about what makes the conversation flammable.
Hamilton signed a multi-year deal when he joined from Mercedes, and any decision to step away early would have to come from him. Steiner's prediction is essentially that Hamilton himself will eventually decide the moment, rather than being pushed.
For Bearman, the message is simple. The 21-year-old has already locked down his place at Haas for 2026 and is, by his own admission, focused on "stripping away the rookie tag" and laying a foundation for a championship-calibre career. But the Maranello shop window is open, and one of the loudest voices in the paddock now believes that it is just a question of when, not if, he steps through it.
"Bearman is ready for Ferrari," Steiner repeated.
It is, by Steiner's standards, almost a quiet endorsement.
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*Originally published on [News Formula One](https://newsformula.one/article/steiner-hamilton-bearman-ferrari-red-flags-podcast-gas-or-brake). Visit for full coverage.*
