Herbert: Sainz to Mercedes, Bearman to Haas, Ricciardo gone

The shock departure of Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari kick-started the Silly Season super early, back on 1 February. With the Scuderia opting to release Carlos Sainz and keep Charles Leclerc for 'The Hamilton Chapter' at Maranello.

This means - Sainz - one of the hottest properties in F1 these days, winner of the Australian Grand Prix last time out, is for hire, just as Mercedes seeks to fill the seat they never expected would need filling. Or at least until Hamilton retired.

But the inevitable 'marriage' of Hamilton to Ferrari interfered with that storyline. The merging of the sport's two biggest brands, one could say, was 'written in the stars' aka inevitable under the circumstances.

Namely, Mercedes on the downswing, and Ferrari on the upswing. Much like when Sir Lewis departed McLaren a decade or so ago. Shrewd and excellent timing once again by the 39-year-old, 103-time GP winner.

To fill those big shoes speaking to the media team at Inclave Casino, Herbert has advice for Mercedes F1 Team boss Toto Wolff: "Carlos Sainz would be one of the replacements Mercedes should look at. He is a solid, very reliable, intelligent driver who could fit in very well."

"But would they try to take on Ollie Bearman for example and throw him into a high-pressure situation like that? I would say yes," ventured Herbert. "He has proven that he can cope with one of the highest pressure seats in F1 if not the highest, in the Ferrari and dealt with everything thrown at him. He would be a perfect fit. It would be brilliant to see."

But more realistically, Ferrari will hang on to Bearman by handing him a Haas F1 seat for 2025 suggests Herbert: "Ollie did a magnificent job. One of those rare debuts when there was a real wow factor. That bodes well for the future of British motorsport and his own future.

"He will be in an F1 car next year, probably a Haas. And thereafter his future is very bright. As long as he gets a drive next year his career will start to take off. We will have a star on our hands," predicts Herbert.

As it stands, Bearman is still an unknown quantity despite his stellar F1 debut in Jeddah when subbing for hospitalised (for appendix op) Sainz at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. But one race does not make an F1 driver as Nyck de Vries proved at AlphaTauri last year.

Meanwhile, over the years Mercedes banked heavily on George Russell to succeed Hamilton. However, the younger of the two Britons has not quite lived up to expectations. Similarly, neither has Mercedes produced a slew of bad cars that coincided with the younger driver's arrival at Brackley from Williams. To show how good he really is, a good car is required.

Nevertheless, common sense suggests Russell is going nowhere, and Mercedes will

not be looking for a rookie to fill the seat, neither Bearman nor Kimi Antonelli. Other reports are that Wolff wants to wrench Verstappen away from Red Bull; and is flirting with the idea of a Sebastian Vettel comeback

Apart from signing Max away from RBR, all are high-risk compared to the slam-dunk Sainz would be for the Mercedes team who, incidentally, have never had a Latin driver race for them in the modern era.

Sainz has also been connected with a return to Red Bull as well as a candidate to spearhead the Audi F1 foray in 2026.

As for the Vettel courtship, it should be remembered that the much-loved four-time F1 World Champion went the way of Daniel Ricciardo in his final years. Soundly beaten by Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, before Aston Martin prolonged the agony of Seb's demise.

In closing, a final word on Dan, the Australian's woeful form has not gone unnoticed by Herbert: "The last chance saloon has gone for Ricciardo. I don’t think there is a chance for him to get back to the top. His teammate Tsunoda is faster than him and that is the sign."