Guenther Steiner would give British teenager Oliver Bearman a race seat on the Formula 1 grid for 2025 were he still a Team Principal, while acknowledging he may have spent too long at Haas who fired him before the start of this season
Ferrari-powered Haas are the most likely destination for reserve Bearman who finished P7 on his F1 debut as a stand-in for appendicitis-stricken Spaniard Carlos Sainz in last Saturday's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The 18-year-old also took part in some practice sessions with the American team last year.
"Based on his performance in Jeddah, after what I saw from him at Haas, I’d put him in a race seat," Steiner said in his first column for the official F1 website.
"Obviously, it depends on the circumstances and what seats are available. You need to see the whole landscape, but he would be a candidate," added the former Team Principal, who left Haas at the end of December.
Both of Haas' current veteran drivers 31-year-old Kevin Magnussen and 36-year-old Nico Hulkenberg are out of contract at the end of the year.
Steiner: I can see that I stayed at Haas too long
Of Bearman's performance in Jeddah, Steiner observed: "For prospective employers, that drive will have taken a lot of doubts away of what he is able to do.
"He's in a good place as at the end of this year, there are a lot of contracts up with drivers, so he can put himself in good a position. He can’t go anywhere he wants, but I believe there is more than one opportunity for him.
"I think a lot of teams will proactively look at him now after his performance last weekend ... so I think there is a good possibility for him to get a seat next year," predicted the Italian.
Steiner said he had been able to switch off from Formula 1 for the first time in a decade: "This time has been good for me. The longer time goes on, the more I can see that I stayed at Haas too long.
"I would come back to F1 in the future, but it needs to be the right project, done right," added Steiner, who had spells with Jaguar and Red Bull before joining Gene Haas's F1 project in 2014.
Latest News
Loading
